Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Billionaire Art Collector Mitchell Rales and Josh Harris to Buy Washington Commanders
ARTnews ^ | April 14, 2023 | SCOTT SOSHNICK, EBEN NOVY-WILLIAMS

Posted on 04/15/2023 2:07:25 PM PDT by nickcarraway

Josh Harris has reached an agreement in principle to acquire the Washington Commanders for $6 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.

Harris and Commanders owner Dan Snyder are hoping to execute a contract in the coming days, said the people, who were granted anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the transaction publicly.

Harris declined to comment. A representative for the Commanders declined to comment.

The deal between Snyder and the group led by Harris, the Philadelphia 76ers co-owner, would end one of the more tumultuous and controversial ownership tenures in modern U.S. sports.

Harris’ group includes billionaire Mitchell Rales, an ARTnews Top 200 collector, and former NBA star Magic Johnson.

The negotiations, which took place over the last six months, occurred amid the constant specter of whether Jeff Bezos, the world’s third richest man, might submit a bid. Bezos is worth $124 billion, nearly double the NFL’s next richest owner, but never submitted an offer.

If the deal closes, it will be the highest price ever paid for a sports team, eclipsing the $4.6 billion that Rob Walton paid for the NFL’s Denver Broncos last year.

It will also end Snyder’s 24-year ownership tenure, which has soured as fans and fellow owners distanced themselves amid allegations of a hostile workplace culture and financial wrongdoing. Those controversies sparked speculation over whether the league might need to consider the unprecedented step of removing an owner, conversations that continued even after Snyder retained Bank of America to explore a possible sale.

The co-founder of Apollo Global Management, Harris, who grew up in the D.C. area, has been looking to grow his sports portfolio beyond Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, which owns the NBA’s 76ers, the NHL’s New Jersey Devils and the Prudential Center. Also an investor in English soccer club Crystal Palace, he was a runner-up in bidding for both the Broncos and the New York Mets in the past few years. Rales is the co-founder of Danaher Corp. (NYSE: DHR).

In addition, Harris is a minority partner in the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers, a stake he will have to sell should he take over the Commanders. That equity was previously held by David Tepper, who had to sell it when he bought the Carolina Panthers in 2018.

Snyder purchased the Commanders, then called the Washington Redskins, in 1999 for $800 million. At the time, it was the most valuable sports team in the world, but it has slipped over the years because of struggles on and off the field. Sportico currently values the team at $4.8 billion, which ranks eighth in the league.

The Commanders have made the playoffs just five times since the 1999 season, and won just one postseason game (2005). In the NFC, only the Detroit Lions have gone longer since their last playoff victory. The Commanders averaged 58,106 fans at home last season, the lowest total in the NFL.

That attendance slide—the team averaged 83,172 fans in 2010, second most in the league—shows the extent to which the Commanders’ fans turned on Snyder amid the team’s many controversies. They include long-running reports of rampant workplace harassment, a Congressional investigation into financial impropriety, and his staunch opposition to changing what many considered a racist team name (he finally relented in 2020).

The sale also comes on the eve of another investigation into Snyder’s stewardship of the team. The NFL last year hired former SEC chair Mary Jo White to look into the franchise, and that report is expected to be released in the coming weeks or months.

As the Snyder drama increased, so too did frustrations within the NFL and the other 31 franchises. In October, ESPN reported that Snyder claimed to have “dirt” on other owners that he could use if they turned against him. Shortly afterward, Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay became the first to publicly say Snyder should be ousted, and the pressure has mounted since then. The process to remove him, however, is complex, and could have set a precedent by which other NFL owners could be forced out in the future.

One of the first priorities for the new ownership group will be a new stadium. FedEx Field, the team’s current home in Maryland, opened in 1997 and does not have the revenue-generating trappings of newer NFL venues. That will be an expensive endeavor, especially if public funds aren’t made available—Rams owner Stan Kroenke’s privately financed new stadium in Los Angeles cost more than $5 billion—but it will also improve the economics for the Commanders moving forward.

(This story has been updated to include information on Harris’ stake in the Pittsburgh Steelers.)


TOPICS: Arts/Photography; Business/Economy; Sports
KEYWORDS: donatedonaldtrump; donatefreerepublic; donatetrump; football; redskins; sports
This seems appropriate since the Washington Team look like the painting Guernica by Pablo Picasso.




Which of these two owners is responsible for sexually harrasing the cheerleaders, and which is in charge of overpaying incompetent coaches?

1 posted on 04/15/2023 2:07:25 PM PDT by nickcarraway
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

Changing the name back?


2 posted on 04/15/2023 2:09:58 PM PDT by rktman (Destroy America from within? Check! WTH? Enlisted USN 1967 to end up with this? 😕)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: rktman

Ceriseskins?


3 posted on 04/15/2023 2:11:15 PM PDT by nickcarraway
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

Couldn’t care less about the Washington Transgenders,the Cleveland Non Binaries or any other pro sports team.


4 posted on 04/15/2023 2:56:15 PM PDT by Gay State Conservative (Two Words: BANANA REPUBLIC!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Gay State Conservative

LOL. You comment on a thread, in which you say you don’t care about the subject being discussed??? LOL.


5 posted on 04/15/2023 3:16:56 PM PDT by Dilbert San Diego
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

Used to be a joke but the “Foreskins” would probably pass today.


6 posted on 04/15/2023 3:19:46 PM PDT by mikey_hates_everything
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Dilbert San Diego

My lack of interest is confirmed by the fact that I haven’t watched a millisecond of coverage of the NFL,NBA,NHL,MLB,etc since early 2020...about the time when pro athletes started kneeling at the National Anthem.


7 posted on 04/15/2023 3:40:11 PM PDT by Gay State Conservative (Two Words: BANANA REPUBLIC!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

Who are the Commanders? A hockey team?


8 posted on 04/15/2023 3:52:24 PM PDT by PhiloBedo (You gotta roll with the punches, and get with what's real.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: PhiloBedo

The Commanders are the football team formerly known as the Washington Redskins.


9 posted on 04/15/2023 3:56:32 PM PDT by Dilbert San Diego
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

The Cowboys would command a premium also. It would be great to get rid of Jerry Jones who has been toxic for them as GM all these years. The Cowboy Team could be worth between $6 and $7 Billion.


10 posted on 04/15/2023 4:01:59 PM PDT by Captain Peter Blood
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Dilbert San Diego

They should have been renamed the Foreskins…just a bunch of d*ckheads hiding


11 posted on 04/15/2023 4:06:10 PM PDT by john316 (JOSHUA 24:15 ...choose you this day whom ye will serve...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Dilbert San Diego

Snyder ownership didn’t pay dividends. The Washington Football Team is a brand.
Like Dallas, Pittsburgh etc. Wish the new owners the best off luck restoring that brand.


12 posted on 04/15/2023 4:36:46 PM PDT by MotorCityBuck (Keep the change, you filthy animal! )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Gay State Conservative; Dilbert San Diego

Actually it was 4 or 5 years earlier they were kneeling. By 2020 it was kind of passe.


13 posted on 04/15/2023 4:45:38 PM PDT by nickcarraway
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Dilbert San Diego

Sorry, left out the sacasm tag. Lol


14 posted on 04/15/2023 5:10:01 PM PDT by PhiloBedo (You gotta roll with the punches, and get with what's real.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

I thought that they were the Washington Communists.


15 posted on 04/15/2023 5:23:50 PM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of Colorado scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nickcarraway

Yes,I recall that 2 and 14 Colon was one of the first...but by early 2020 I had had enough.


16 posted on 04/15/2023 8:38:08 PM PDT by Gay State Conservative (Two Words: BANANA REPUBLIC!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: Gay State Conservative

Colon?


17 posted on 04/15/2023 8:52:55 PM PDT by nickcarraway
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: PhiloBedo
Never heard of em.

Virgina and Martland were apparently a void, uninhabited desert until the Communists got here.

18 posted on 04/15/2023 8:58:27 PM PDT by Theophilus (It's fake and defective)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson