NFL owners are expected to approve Dan Snyder’s record $6 billion Washington Commanders sale on Thursday. It ends one of the league’s most turbulent ownership relationships and gives control of the club to a group led by Josh Harris.
The sale, agreed in May, is the largest ever paid for a North American sports franchise.
The deal must be approved by a vote at Thursday’s league meeting, an NFL spokesman told . At least 24 team owners must approve the sale, which is expected to get the green light. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports.
The looming deal had been jeopardized by a mysterious legal hook related to Snyder’s alleged leaking of Jon Gruden’s racist emails, leading to his resignation as Las Vegas Raiders head coach in 2021. Whatever the problem, it was being ‘substantiated,’ a source told The Washington Post last week after an ESPN report accused Snyder of strategically leaking the offending emails. There was speculation in the Post’s coverage that Snyder was trying to recover from Gruden’s ongoing lawsuit against the NFL and Commissioner Roger Goodell.
That doesn’t seem to be a problem anymore. Now the NFL and Commanders can turn the tide over Snyder’s disastrous tenure in Washington, which has included controversies over the team’s former name, the Redskins, sexual harassment investigations and just two playoff wins in 24 years.
Dan and his wife Tanya Snyder have owned The Commanders since 1999 for $800 million
The new ownership group will be led by 76ers chief executive Josh Harris (pictured).
The new ownership group includes Lakers legend and Dodgers co-owner Magic Johnson
The new ownership group includes Harris, who also owns the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers, and Los Angeles Lakers legend and Dodgers co-owner Earvin “Magic” Johnson.
Snyder got rich in the 1990s after selling his communications company to a French advertising giant in a $2 billion deal.
The longtime Redskins fan donated $800 million to the club in 1999 but failed to build a thriving culture in Washington amid battles with executives, minority partners, local government officials, the NFL, media and, most importantly, angry fans.
While the Redskins were constant competitors through the ’60s, ’70s, ’80s and early ’90s, Snyder’s erratic decisions led to instability and massive turnover.
The team had 27 starting quarterbacks and 10 head coaches during the Snyder era and a .427 win ratio.
During Snyder’s tenure, the team was criticized for its current nickname, “Redskins,” which is considered offensive to Native Americans.
Snyder campaigned against the change for years, but Washington finally dropped the “Redskins” name in 2020 in the wake of the George Floyd protests.
This change — first to the placeholder “Washington Football Team” and then to “Commanders” — also angered many fans and conservatives.
A Commanders fan holds up a sign during the game against the Dallas Cowboys
But that didn’t end Snyder’s troubles.
In the spring of 2021, after years of disputes, Snyder bought out minority owners Dwight Schar, a homebuilder, Black Diamond Capital CEO Bob Rothman, and FedEx founder Fred Smith. The trio had previously filed an injunction hoping to be allowed to sell their 40.5 percent stake in the team, which Snyder eventually bought after the NFL agreed to a debt forgiveness that allowed him to take out a loan to raise $450 million from Bank of America.
The former minority partners had reportedly requested an NFL investigation into the alleged $55 million loan during a confidential arbitration hearing, but at least one source with knowledge of the proceedings told ESPN that Schar, Smith and Rothman, league commissioner Roger Goodell and general counsel Jeffrey Pash sided with Snyder.
If Snyder had actually taken out the $55 million loan without notifying his now-former minority partners, it would have violated the team’s shareholder agreement, documents obtained by the AP say.
The NFL has not conducted an investigation into the loan and Snyder has never been fined on the financial misconduct allegations.
Fred Smit (pictured), the CEO of Fred Ex, was a minority owner of the team until spring 2021
Then-Redskins minority owners Robert Rothman (left), Dwight Schar (center) and majority owner Dan Snyder beam in the closing minutes of a win over the Vikings in 2013
The biggest scandal, however, was the sexual harassment allegations against the team and Snyder himself.
The league’s first investigation resulted in a $10 million fine in 2021. However, specific allegations against Snyder and the team were never disclosed by Goodell, citing privacy concerns about the controversial decision. A subsequent investigation by Congress uncovered additional allegations against the team and Snyder, which the NFL continues to investigate.
Allegations of sexual harassment against team members ranged from making inappropriate comments to creating an offensive video behind the scenes of a 2008 cheerleading calendar shoot, according to the 2020 Washington Post report that first uncovered the allegations.
Snyder is also accused of telling a cheerleader to go to a hotel room with her boyfriend so they could “get to know each other better” and inappropriately touching a staff member at a team dinner, both of which he denied.
The NFL has since launched a second sexual harassment investigation into the team to verify subsequent allegations of wrongdoing, including former team employee Tiffani Johnston’s claim that Snyder grabbed her thigh at a team dinner and pressured her into a limousine to rise.
Snyder has denied this claim.
The sexual harassment investigation also sparked other controversies thanks to the Democrat-led Congressional Oversight Committee investigation.
As a result of this investigation, the team was sued by the District of Columbia and fined $250,000 by the State of Maryland for unlawfully withholding security from season ticket holders.
Former Commanders staffer Tiffani Johnston addresses the Congressional Oversight Committee
The Snyders finally agreed to sell the team in May but awaited NFL approval
The NFL investigation also uncovered Gruden’s old emails that contained racist and homophobic language — messages Snyder reportedly leaked to newspapers in 2021.
Gruden’s emails contained racial references to black NFL union boss DeMaurice Smith and a homophobic slur describing Goodell. The longtime Raiders coach resigned in disgrace in October 2021 but has since sued the NFL and Goodell over the leaks, which he described as an “orchestrated” and “malicious campaign” to “destroy his career and reputation.”
But while Gruden has accused Goodell of leaking the emails, an ESPN report this week suggested they could also have come from Smith or Snyder, with the latter accused of leaking the messages to criticize one Scandal to deflect sexual harassment.
Snyder also reportedly submitted a “blackmail PowerPoint” to the NFL that included screenshots and embarrassing messages from league managers. The purpose of the PowerPoint presentation that Snyder’s attorneys allegedly shared with the league in June 2021 was to pressure the NFL to withhold details of a sexual harassment investigation into the team and its owner.
Redacted versions of some of Gruden’s emails were also filed in federal court in June 2021 as part of Snyder’s efforts to compel Bruce Allen to submit the disclosure in a separate lawsuit
Gruden dubbed the NFLPA chief “Dumboriss Smith” and said he had “lips the size of Michelin tires.”
(Left) NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is also accused of leaking the emails. (Right) Jon Gruden appears in court in May 2022 following a hearing in his ongoing legal battle with the NFL
There continues to be much speculation about the email leak.
Four unnamed team owners told ESPN they believe Goodell was personally involved. Another owner source said it was league executives who approved the leaked emails, which contained racist and homophobic remarks from Gruden, a longtime critic of the league office and Goodell.
The Wall Street Journal reported in October 2021 that Gruden used a racist term to describe black NFL union boss DeMaurice Smith. Gruden resigned the following day with a remaining contract of $100 million, shortly after The New York Times revealed more offensive emails, some dating back more than a decade. Gruden then sued the league in November 2021, alleging that the NFL and Goodell conducted a “staged malicious campaign” to “destroy his career and reputation.”
Speaking to ESPN this week, NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy reiterated the league’s denial that Goodell was involved in the leak: “Neither the NFL nor the commissioner leaked Coach Gruden’s abusive emails.”
The messages were broadcast by Gruden to several people, including former Washington Redskins manager Bruce Allen, from 2011 to 2018 while Gruden was an announcer at ESPN. Gruden previously coached in the NFL from 1990 to 2008, including with the Oakland Raiders and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He was reinstated by the Raiders in 2018 — two years before the team moved to Las Vegas.
In an email, Gruden said Smith had “lips the size of Michelin tires” and later called him “Dumboriss Smith”. Additionally, in another message, Gruden also used the homophobic term “f*****” to describe Goodell.
Raiders owner Mark Davis felt the leaks were “fake” but decided to interview current and former team players to gauge whether or not he should fire Gruden, a source told ESPN.
Raiders owner Mark Davis (right) and his now-former head coach Jon Gruden in 2018
Redskins cheerleaders were seen dancing at an event in 2004, where allegations later surfaced
Davis tended to keep Goodell until, sources say, he was pressured by Goodell to “do something” — an instruction the Raiders’ owner took to be an attempt by the commissioner to protect Snyder.
After all, it was the NFL’s investigation into sexual harassment allegations against Snyder and the Commanders that brought Gruden’s emails to Allen to light in the first place. Additionally, following the initial leak, Goodell Davis said “more emails are coming in,” a source told ESPN.
But to Davis, the 2021 email leaks appeared to be the NFL’s attempt to isolate Snyder from allegations of sexual harassment, and Gruden was merely collateral damage, according to ESPN.
“Fuck the NFL,” Davis reportedly told Gruden. “And fuck Dan Snyder.”
Commanders fans responded with joy on Twitter and immediately rejoiced at the news of the sale
With the sale, the NFL hopes to end the Snyder era.
Harris and his team are now taking over a team that has come through an 8-8-1 season. There are concerns that sophomore quarterback Sam Howell and fourth-year coach Ron Rivera will start the season in the hot seat.
Of course, none of that matters to the team’s fans, many of whom cheered on Thursday.
“What a great day!!!!” wrote one.
“The darkness (sic) is gone!” added one more. “New day and age! We’re on the rise! We are back!’