Dan Snyder To Sell Washington Commanders For $6 Billion: Reports
Washington Commanders owner Dan Snyder (right) talks to Cowboys owner Jerry Jones (left) at AT&T Stadium on Oct. 2, 2022, in Arlington, Texas.
Dan Snyder, the embattled owner of the Washington Commanders, has reached a deal to sell the NFL franchise for a figure approaching $6 billion, according to NBC Washington and CBS Sports.
Philadelphia 76ers co-owner Josh Harris orchestrated the winning bid, which, if approved by NFL owners, would set a record for the most expensive in league history.
A $6 billion deal would eclipse the previous record of $4.65 billion, set last year with the sale of the Denver Broncos to the Walton-Penner group. Harris was also among the bidders for that team.
New ownership will have no shortage of tasks to oversee, with a controversial stadium proposal potentially back on the table, a long streak of losing records, and fan attendance that ranked last in the league in 2022.
The Commanders found themselves at the center of numerous controversies in recent years, resulting in other NFL owners publicly urging Snyder to sell the team.
A 2021 investigation into allegations of sexual harassment and verbal abuse at the team resulted in a $10 million fine levied by the NFL, and forced Snyder to relinquish day-to-day oversight to his wife, Tanya.
Snyder bought the team for $750 million in 1999, when it was called the Redskins, and for years he refused to change its derogatory and racist name. The pressure mounted, however, amid variousinvestigations into the team, culminating in a name change in 2020.
Numerous former female employees of the team described a toxic workplace culture under Snyder, including a former staffer who said the team owner once tried to “aggressively” push her into his limo.
“The only reason Dan Snyder removed his hand from my back and stopped pushing me towards his limo was because his attorney intervened and said, ‘Dan, Dan, this is a bad idea … a very bad idea,’” Tiffani Johnston, who worked for the team for eight years as a cheerleader and marketing manager, told a congressional roundtable in 2022.
“There was no one to go to about Dan Snyder’s advance, no path to report the incident … so I learned to move on.”
