ESPN: Snyders receive two $6B bids for Commanders

Updated 2 p.m. March 28

ESPN reporter Adam Schefter reported Tuesday that a group of investors led by Josh Harris and Mitchell Rales and including NBA legend Magic Johnson has submitted a $6 billion bid for the Washington Commanders, meeting the asking price of team owner Dan Snyder. Later in the day, Schefter tweeted that Canadian billionaire Steve Apostolopoulos made a competing $6 billion bid for the team.

If successful, either $6 billion bid for the Commanders would set a record price for any sports franchise. Co-founder of Apollo Global Management and a Bethesda, Maryland, native, Harris owns the Philadelphia 76ers NBA team and the NHL’s New Jersey Devils. Rales, who lives in Potomac, Maryland, is a co-founder of Danaher Corp. and is worth an estimated $5.6 billion. The same group of investors last year made a bid to purchase the Denver Broncos, which instead sold for $4.65 billion to Walmart heir Rob Walton.

Apostolopoulos founded Six Ventures Inc., a private equity fund, and is managing partner of the Toronto-based real estate firm Triple Group of Cos. Last week, The Washington Post reported that he has toured the Commanders’ facilities. Apostolopoulos was interested in buying the Charlotte Hornets NBA team owned by Michael Jordan, according to ESPN.

Several names previously came up as potential buyers of the Commanders in recent months, including Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos and music mogul Jay-Z. Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta was reported as a possible buyer too, according to The Washington Post.

Commanders owners Dan and Tanya Snyder hired Bank of America Securities to consider potential sales, the Ashburn-based NFL team announced in November 2022. The NFL owners’ annual league meeting is taking place this week in Phoenix, and Tuesday’s schedule includes an off-the-record session among team owners. Any sale would require approval of three-fourths of the 32 team owners.

Snyder, the team’s owner since 1999, and the team’s head office have come under investigations by the NFL and Congress for alleged sexual harassment and fostering a hostile work environment. His wife, Tanya, took over as co-CEO of the team in 2021, after the NFL’s $10 million fine of the team for an “improper” and “highly unprofessional” workplace culture. At the time, there seemed to be little appetite among team owners to force the Snyders to sell. According to NFL bylaws, it would take the agreement of 24 team owners to oust another owner.

In December 2022, the House Committee on Oversight and Reform released a report finding that “sexual harassment, bullying and other toxic conduct” took place in the franchise’s operations, and that Dan Snyder attempted to intimidate witnesses in the congressional investigation.

The NFL also launched a second probe of the team in February 2022, led by Mary Jo White, a former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and former chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission. According to the Post, Dan Snyder has so far declined to be interviewed by White.

The Washington, D.C., attorney general also sued the Commanders and Snyder in November 2022, the Post reported.