NFL Owners Are Left in the Dark on the Washington Commanders Sale

Dan Snyder, the Commanders’ embattled owner who remains under investigation by the NFL for allegations that surfaced during a congressional investigation of the league and the team, took steps toward a sale when the team said in November it had hired BofA Securities to explore “potential transactions.” 

That process has advanced in recent weeks, as at least two groups have submitted bids potentially valued at about $6 billion, people familiar with the matter said. One is from Canadian businessman ​​Steve Apostolopoulos and another is from a group led by

Apollo Global Management Inc.

co-founder

Joshua Harris,

these people said. A sale at that price would shatter the record sale price for a North American sports franchise, which was set last year when the Denver Broncos went for $4.65 billion. 

But, at a time when Snyder and the league have a strained relationship, this has been an odd sales process. Typically, within the league there is an open line of communication between the seller and the NFL, including information about the potential buyers and their bids. 

During the Commanders’ sale process, however, people across the league have described radio silence. 

Some across the league are privately skeptical that Snyder will follow through on the sale, given their lack of visibility into the process and his previous steadfastness that he wouldn’t sell. They also say that if he opts to hold on to the team, there’s a belief that the necessary 24 of 32 votes would be there to remove him and force a sale. 

Commanders president Jason Wright said there is nothing he has seen to indicate the team won’t be sold. 

“I don’t see any indicators that it’s not [going to be sold],” Wright said, before adding: “I mean, I guess it’s a potential sale until it’s a sale.” 

Snyder’s franchise has been a lightning rod for controversy for years over several issues. After previously saying he would never get rid of the team’s longtime name, the Redskins, Snyder did just that in 2020 after amplified cries from activists and sponsors who called the moniker racially insensitive. Snyder was also embroiled in a feud with his minority partners, in court and in NFL arbitration, before he eventually bought them out. 

The most salient problem, however, has been the culture inside the team now known as the Commanders—and how the league handled the investigation into it. 

In 2020, after numerous women reported being sexually or verbally harassed while working for the club, the team launched an investigation into the allegations. The probe was later taken over the by the league, which the next year issued broad findings that said the team’s workplace was unprofessional, especially for women, and numerous female employees reported sexual harassment. 

As the NFL had often done after past investigations, though, it did not issue a written report detailing the investigation’s findings. Critics, including the attorneys representing many former employees, assailed the league over its lack of transparency. Then later in 2021, the House Committee on Oversight and Reform launched an investigation into the NFL’s investigation, Snyder and the team. 

The committee’s probe added to the allegations against Snyder, which had previously included a $1.6 million settlement he paid in 2009 to settle a sexual harassment allegation. At a roundtable hosted by the committee, a former employee aired a new accusation of sexual assault against him. Snyder has apologized for the team’s workplace culture but denied any personal wrongdoing. 

That new allegation, in addition to another one aired by a former employee who said there were financial improprieties inside the club, prompted the NFL to launch another investigation into Snyder and the Commanders. That one, led by former Securities and Exchange commissioner

Mary Jo White,

is ongoing. 

The committee’s findings, released in December of 2022, were withering. The committee identified Snyder as responsible for the club’s toxic workplace culture and said he tried to silence his accusers through private investigators, harassment and attempts to pay hush money. Lawyers representing the team at the time said the committee’s report did not advance the public knowledge of the organization’s culture and that the team was proud of the progress it has made in recent years. 

The committee also criticized the NFL’s handling of the matter, writing that its actions, including entering into a common interest agreement with the team when the first investigation changed hands, effectively shielded Snyder. An NFL spokesman at the time defended its investigation and punishment of the team, which included a $10 million fine. 

Now, the investigation by Mary Jo White looms over the sales process. If it backs up the accusations against Snyder and the team, it could be additional ammunition for his fellow owners to vote to remove him, should he not sell voluntarily. Commissioner Roger Goodell said Tuesday that the league is still committed to releasing the findings whether or not Snyder is still the owner. 

Lisa Banks, a lawyer representing 40 former employees of the team, said that her clients want to see a sale happen yet are worried that the sale process is holding up the release of White’s report.

“What my clients are focused on with respect to both the sale of the team and the issuance of the Mary Jo White report is getting some transparency and accountability, and they view the sale of the team as a measure of accountability that they have been long seeking,” she said Thursday. 

When the team said it had hired BofA to explore potential transactions in November, it marked a jarring shift. Snyder had long said he never intended to sell the team, which his late father loved. Even as he was derided for the scandals that piled up and how the team languished on the field, he had previously never budged on the notion that he planned to own the Commanders for the long haul. 

Then his announcement about a potential transaction came shortly after the first public suggestion from one of his NFL colleagues that he could be removed from his post. That came when Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay, at owners meetings last October, raised that possibility. 

“I believe there’s merit to remove him as owner,” Irsay said then. “It’s something that has to be given serious consideration.” 

The franchise’s immense value in a potential sale stems from not just its prime location, but also its status as one of the NFL’s most iconic teams. It won three Super Bowls over the span of a decade in the 1980s and early ‘90s while developing a rabid fan base. 

Any new owner would be tasked with not just re-energizing that fan base, which hasn’t experienced a playoff win for 17 consecutive seasons, but also rebuilding infrastructure that has deteriorated. The Commanders rated last among all 32 teams in a recent NFL Players Association survey, receiving F- grades in the training room and locker room categories. 

Whoever buys the team will likely be tasked with rebuilding a new stadium and finding a location for it—a prospect that has run into political roadblocks as controversy has boiled around Snyder and the team. 

—Louise Radnofsky and Miriam Gottfried contributed to this article. 

Write to Andrew Beaton at [email protected]

Dan Snyder, the Commanders’ embattled owner who remains under investigation by the NFL for allegations that surfaced during a congressional investigation of the league and the team, took steps toward a sale when the team said in November it had hired BofA Securities to explore “potential transactions.” 

That process has advanced in recent weeks, as at least two groups have submitted bids potentially valued at about $6 billion, people familiar with the matter said. One is from Canadian businessman ​​Steve Apostolopoulos and another is from a group led by

Apollo Global Management Inc.

co-founder

Joshua Harris,

these people said. A sale at that price would shatter the record sale price for a North American sports franchise, which was set last year when the Denver Broncos went for $4.65 billion. 

But, at a time when Snyder and the league have a strained relationship, this has been an odd sales process. Typically, within the league there is an open line of communication between the seller and the NFL, including information about the potential buyers and their bids. 

During the Commanders’ sale process, however, people across the league have described radio silence. 

Some across the league are privately skeptical that Snyder will follow through on the sale, given their lack of visibility into the process and his previous steadfastness that he wouldn’t sell. They also say that if he opts to hold on to the team, there’s a belief that the necessary 24 of 32 votes would be there to remove him and force a sale. 

Commanders president Jason Wright said there is nothing he has seen to indicate the team won’t be sold. 

“I don’t see any indicators that it’s not [going to be sold],” Wright said, before adding: “I mean, I guess it’s a potential sale until it’s a sale.” 

Snyder’s franchise has been a lightning rod for controversy for years over several issues. After previously saying he would never get rid of the team’s longtime name, the Redskins, Snyder did just that in 2020 after amplified cries from activists and sponsors who called the moniker racially insensitive. Snyder was also embroiled in a feud with his minority partners, in court and in NFL arbitration, before he eventually bought them out. 

The most salient problem, however, has been the culture inside the team now known as the Commanders—and how the league handled the investigation into it. 

In 2020, after numerous women reported being sexually or verbally harassed while working for the club, the team launched an investigation into the allegations. The probe was later taken over the by the league, which the next year issued broad findings that said the team’s workplace was unprofessional, especially for women, and numerous female employees reported sexual harassment. 

As the NFL had often done after past investigations, though, it did not issue a written report detailing the investigation’s findings. Critics, including the attorneys representing many former employees, assailed the league over its lack of transparency. Then later in 2021, the House Committee on Oversight and Reform launched an investigation into the NFL’s investigation, Snyder and the team. 

The committee’s probe added to the allegations against Snyder, which had previously included a $1.6 million settlement he paid in 2009 to settle a sexual harassment allegation. At a roundtable hosted by the committee, a former employee aired a new accusation of sexual assault against him. Snyder has apologized for the team’s workplace culture but denied any personal wrongdoing. 

That new allegation, in addition to another one aired by a former employee who said there were financial improprieties inside the club, prompted the NFL to launch another investigation into Snyder and the Commanders. That one, led by former Securities and Exchange commissioner

Mary Jo White,

is ongoing. 

The committee’s findings, released in December of 2022, were withering. The committee identified Snyder as responsible for the club’s toxic workplace culture and said he tried to silence his accusers through private investigators, harassment and attempts to pay hush money. Lawyers representing the team at the time said the committee’s report did not advance the public knowledge of the organization’s culture and that the team was proud of the progress it has made in recent years. 

The committee also criticized the NFL’s handling of the matter, writing that its actions, including entering into a common interest agreement with the team when the first investigation changed hands, effectively shielded Snyder. An NFL spokesman at the time defended its investigation and punishment of the team, which included a $10 million fine. 

Now, the investigation by Mary Jo White looms over the sales process. If it backs up the accusations against Snyder and the team, it could be additional ammunition for his fellow owners to vote to remove him, should he not sell voluntarily. Commissioner Roger Goodell said Tuesday that the league is still committed to releasing the findings whether or not Snyder is still the owner. 

Lisa Banks, a lawyer representing 40 former employees of the team, said that her clients want to see a sale happen yet are worried that the sale process is holding up the release of White’s report.

“What my clients are focused on with respect to both the sale of the team and the issuance of the Mary Jo White report is getting some transparency and accountability, and they view the sale of the team as a measure of accountability that they have been long seeking,” she said Thursday. 

When the team said it had hired BofA to explore potential transactions in November, it marked a jarring shift. Snyder had long said he never intended to sell the team, which his late father loved. Even as he was derided for the scandals that piled up and how the team languished on the field, he had previously never budged on the notion that he planned to own the Commanders for the long haul. 

Then his announcement about a potential transaction came shortly after the first public suggestion from one of his NFL colleagues that he could be removed from his post. That came when Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay, at owners meetings last October, raised that possibility. 

“I believe there’s merit to remove him as owner,” Irsay said then. “It’s something that has to be given serious consideration.” 

The franchise’s immense value in a potential sale stems from not just its prime location, but also its status as one of the NFL’s most iconic teams. It won three Super Bowls over the span of a decade in the 1980s and early ‘90s while developing a rabid fan base. 

Any new owner would be tasked with not just re-energizing that fan base, which hasn’t experienced a playoff win for 17 consecutive seasons, but also rebuilding infrastructure that has deteriorated. The Commanders rated last among all 32 teams in a recent NFL Players Association survey, receiving F- grades in the training room and locker room categories. 

Whoever buys the team will likely be tasked with rebuilding a new stadium and finding a location for it—a prospect that has run into political roadblocks as controversy has boiled around Snyder and the team. 

—Louise Radnofsky and Miriam Gottfried contributed to this article. 

Write to Andrew Beaton at [email protected]