Less than a month away
The NFL told owners to keep two dates open for a potential vote on the signed agreement between Dan and Tanya Snyder, and the group led by Josh Harris, for the purchase of the Washington Commanders franchise. The Washington Post reported this morning that the date owners will be meeting is July 20th, and the bid will likely be approved at that time. The sale will be the highest paid for an NFL team, or any sports franchise, at $6.05 billion. Josh Harris’s group will take over the team a week before training camp starts in Ashburn, VA, and they will begin their takeover quickly.
“Everything is on track,” that person said. “The team and the league and the Harris group all want to get this done. I don’t see any real problems there. … There’s every reason to believe it should get done by then.”
“The sooner the Harris group can get in control, the better,” the person with knowledge of the NFL’s deliberations said. “Everyone wants them to be able to get in there as soon as they can. … They want to get something done sooner rather than later, also. It just makes sense that it gets done then. I would expect unanimous approval.”
Update: The NFL has scheduled a special owners’ meeting for July 20 for consideration of the Commanders sale and a potential vote, source says. The league notified the owners in a memo late Thursday. Revised story coming momentarily. https://t.co/3aEfwfPCj5
— MarkMaske (@MarkMaske) June 23, 2023
The Snyder’s announced on November 2, 2022 that they had hired Bank of America Securities to explore all sale options for the franchise. The last 7 months have seemed more like 7 years, as the sale process moved on with plenty of complications, conflicting reports, and a lack of confirmation from the Snyders that they were looking to sell the entire team. NFL owners wanted Snyder out, but didn’t want to take the unprecedented step of voting a fellow owner out of their exclusive club.
Several potential buyers came and went, and Snyder never got close to the reported $7 billion number he wanted, despite the twisted Brian Davis side story. He will have to “settle” for $6.05 billion as he continues his transition to full-time billionaire English yachtsman. There are still several lawsuits and investigations that he will have to deal with, including the NFL’s ongoing investigation into sexual and financial allegations led by Mary Jo White. Roger Goodell has promised to share the investigations findings with the public, but the league will want to move on from the Dan Snyder stain quickly.