Cowboys Legendary Name-challenged Rivals Getting New Owners

WASHINGTON D.C.— The Washington Commanders football team is close to being sold to new ownership.

The Harris Group, which consists of Philadelphia 76er’s co-owner Josh Harris, billionaire Mitchell Rales, and former NBA legend Magic Johnson, are nearing a deal with current Commanders’ owner Dan Snyder to purchase the historic NFL team for $6 Billion.

 According to NFL Insider Ian Rapoport the sale is not final yet and the agreement has not been sent to the league to be approved. The sale of any team would need to be looked at by the NFL’s finance committee and also need at least 75% or 24 of the current owners are needed to approve the deal.

The Harris Group has submitted an official offer around the $6 Billion mark but has to contend with Canadian billionaire Steve Apostopolous and Tilman Fertitta, owner of the Houston Rockets. Fertitta allegedly offered what Forbes had placed on the franchise when they released the most expensive sports teams, which was $5.6 billion.

An anonymous group was also liked to the Commanders as was Amazon’s Jeff Bezos at one point, but Bezos is reportedly not going to by the team.

NFL teams have been changing hands over the past few seasons. Last year, the Denver Broncos were sold to Walmart’s Rob Walton for $4.65 billion and former president Donald Trump was, at one point, linked to the Buffalo Bills in 2014. The Bills were purchased by Terry and Kim Pegula for $1.1 billion. The Cleveland Browns and Jacksonville Jaguars had new owners in 2012 when Haslam bought the Browns for $1 billion, and Shad Khan took over as owner of the Jaguars for $770 million.

The Commanders, who were the Washington Redskins at the time, were bought by Snyder for $750 million. Over the 23 years Snyder was in control, the value of the team jumped by $5.25 billion. Should the NFL approve the Harris Groups takeover, it would be the biggest dollar amount for an NFL team ever.

Snyder’s time as Washington’s owner hasn’t come without controversy. Last year, six former employees of the Washington team levied sexual harassment and abuse against Snyder with one complainant claiming that Snyder instructed the team’s video department to make a sexually charged video of the cheerleader’s private areas.

In May 2018, reports came out that five former Washington cheerleaders were sexually harassed and intimidated by the team while on a photo shoot in Costa Rica. Then, in July 2021, a D.C. attorney conducted a thorough independent review of the matter and the NFL eventually took over the investigation. The NFL then fined Washington $10 million as they found an unprofessional workplace.

The Commanders are, of course, one of the Dallas Cowboys biggest rivals but this sale should not impact the play of the team.