Daniel Snyder has reached an agreement to sell the NFL team.
It is possible yet highly unlikely that Josh Harris will walk out of the National Football League owners’ spring meeting in Minneapolis with the ownership of the Washington Commanders franchise. Harris and his group that includes Magic Johnson formally entered into an agreement to buy the team from Daniel Snyder on May 12th. But the league has to vet everyone in the Harris group and that could take a little while so Harris may not be able to get the team until the summer. Harris is already in the exclusive club known as sports owners. He is the Managing Partner of the National Basketball Association’s Philadelphia 76ers and the National Hockey League’s New Jersey Devils. Harris is a General Partner of the Crystal Palace Football Club in the Premier League and, more importantly for the NFL, a minority owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers. NFL owners know him. Harris needs 24 NFL owners to say yes to the sale.
Harris and his partners have to do some fence mending in the Washington, DC, Maryland and Virginia area. The Commanders brand needs to be rebuilt although that should not be too hard if the team is competitive. Snyder has done a lot of damage to the brand. Harris may get a team that is in need of a new stadium. Snyder was so odious that he literally scared politicians away when he was attempting to negotiate a stadium deal in Maryland and in Virginia. Snyder was investigated by the league for sexual harassment and for having a hostile workplace. The special investigator’s report on Snyder has never been released to the public. Snyder was fined $10 million and suspended from running his football team on a day-to-day basis but his wife Tanya was allowed to take over her husband’s duties. Snyder could walk away with a parting gift worth more than $6 billion.
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