The Washington Commanders will likely have new owners when the 2023 NFL season. According to multiple reports, Commanders owners Dan and Tanya Snyder have agreed to sell the franchise to Josh Harris, who is also the owner of the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils, for $6.05 billion. The deal has not been signed as of their writing, and the group led by Steve Apostolopoulos is still involved in the process, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.
If the Commanders gets sold for over $6 billion, it would set an NFL record. The last team to be purchased is the Denver Broncos, and the ownership group led by Rob Walton purchased the team for $4.65 billion last year. The Commanders deal likely won’t be approved until the next NFL meetings scheduled for May 22-24 in Minneapolis. The NFL’s eight-member finance committee will examine the documents before the 31 owners vote on the deal.
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Harris, 58, is one of the co-founders of Apollo Global Management, a private equity firm, and has a net worth of at least $6 billion. He purchased the 76ers in 2011 and the Devils in 2013. Harris is also a minority owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, owning around 5% of the team. He is the head of an investment group that Maryland businessman and philanthropist Mitchell Rales and NBA legend Magic Johnson.
The Snyders, who purchased the team in 1999 for $800 million, began exploring a sale in November when they retained Bank of America Securities. Dan Snyder and the Commanders remain the subject of an internal league investigation concerning allegations of workplace misconduct and potential unlawful financial conduct. Since the Snyders bought the team in 1999, Washington has posted a 164-220-2 record and played in the playoffs just six times. The last time the Commanders reached the playoffs was in 2020, and their last playoff win came in 2005.
Back in 2013, Dan Syder talked about the lessons he has learned since buying the Commanders. “Don’t listen to the media,” he said per Washingtonian. “I listened to the media and I hired Marty Shottenheimer. I hired Marty Shottenheimer because the media was beating me up to hire a real tough guy. Well, in today’s football I don’t think you can be as tough as he is. So it didn’t work out. And then I went in my own direction, and I made the mistake of hiring Steve Spurrier.”
