NFL team owners on Thursday unanimously approved billionaire Josh Harris’ purchase of the Washington Commanders, greenlighting the formal end to scandal-plagued billionaire owner Dan Snyder’s two-plus-decade run, as the team looks to bounce back from a winless drought mired in controversies.
The Commanders, which were renamed before the 2020 season from the Washington Redskins and played briefly as the Washington Football Team, announced in May a group of investors led by Harris would purchase the team—the deal is expected to close as soon as Friday.
Harris’ Blitzer Sports & Entertainment investment group agreed to pay $6.05 billion for the team, which would be the most expensive in league history, significantly topping Walmart heir Rob Walton’s $4.6 billion acquisition of the Denver Broncos last year.
Harris, through his investment group, also owns the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils, and purchased the Commanders alongside NBA Hall-of-Famer Earvin “Magic” Johnson and investor David Blitzer.
We estimate Harris’ net worth at $6.6 billion, making him the world’s 402nd richest person.
Snyder purchased the Commanders in 1999 for $800 million, though his tenure has been marked by poor performance and scandals—the Commanders failed to make an appearance in the NFC championship game over Snyder’s 24-year run. Snyder also faced multiple misconduct allegations, including of silencing female team employees who had accused him and other executives working for the team of sexual misconduct, according to the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. In 2021 the NFL fined the team $10 million following an internal probe led by independent counsel Beth Wilkinson into workplace culture misconduct allegations found the team acted in a “highly unprofessional manner” with a “general lack of respect in the workplace.”
Billionaire Josh Harris Buys Washington Commanders, Ending Dan Snyder’s Controversial Run (Forbes)
