Jump to content
Washington Football Team Logo
Extremeskins
Forum Rules and Guidelines

Nah Nah Nah…Nah Nah Nah…Hey Hey Hey…GOODBYE CLOWNSHOES

Koolblue13

By Koolblue13
in The Stadium

 Share

Recommended Posts

Skinsinparadise

Skinsinparadise

Posted
Posted (edited)

 

 

The involvement of billionaire industrialist Mitchell Rales in the Josh Harris-led bid to buy the Washington Commanders gives owner Daniel Snyder a deep-pocketed alternative to selling to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and provides the NFL and its team owners with an appealing mix of well-established local roots and an impressive record of business success.

 
 

The news of Rales’s inclusion, confirmed Thursday, also arrived at a critical juncture. Some NFL owners and others involved in the sale process are intent upon trying to persuade Snyder that he would be best-served by striking a deal in the coming weeks, according to multiple people close to the process. Still, it remains unclear whether an agreement can be reached before NFL team owners convene in Phoenix for the annual league meeting later this month, according to five people with knowledge of the sales process and the owners’ views. The meeting is scheduled to begin March 26 and is expected to last three or four days.

Some NFL owners remain skeptical that Snyder can be convinced to sell the franchise voluntarily and are girding for further contentiousness with him, a person with direct knowledge of the owners’ deliberations said last week.

 

The wild card in closing any deal is Snyder, 58, who has owned the franchise since 1999. His intent is not entirely clear. Is he selling the team or simply reassessing its value? How deep-seated is his animus toward Bezos? Would he refuse a top-dollar offer from the world’s third-richest person because of a grievance against The Washington Post, which Bezos owns, or is that merely a bargaining tactic? Finally, will Snyder’s demands over price and terms prolong the process for months, if not years, or mire it in litigation?

Snyder is thought to be seeking at least $6 billion for an asset with a fair-market value estimated by some observers at $4.7 billion to $5.6 billion. He also is seeking indemnification against future legal liability and costs, according to people familiar with the sales process and other team owners’ views.

 

In the Harris and Rales partnership, Snyder would get buyers who can write a check for fair-market value, plus the premium that’s typically tacked on for the cachet of owning one of 32 NFL teams.

 

The combined net worth of Harris and Rales is estimated at $11.3 billion to $14 billion, according to Forbes and Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index.

Snyder also would get buyers who are well known to the NFL, easing the approval process that requires the assent of at least 24 of the other team owners. Harris, 58, built his wealth as co-founder of investment firm Apollo Global Management. With business partner David S. Blitzer, he is also principal owner of the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers and the NHL’s New Jersey Devils, as well as a limited partner (reportedly less than 5 percent) in the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers.

 

He had given away $2 billion at the time he and his wife, Emily Wei Rales, signed the Giving Pledge, created in 2010 by Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates, in which the world’s billionaires make a public vow to give away the bulk of their fortunes to philanthropic causes before or upon their death. NFL owners Arthur Blank of the Atlanta Falcons and Stephen Ross of the Miami Dolphins are fellow signatories, as was late Seattle Seahawks owner Paul Allen.

Snyder might find value in placing the team in the hands of owners with Washington-area roots. Like Snyder himself, Harris and Rales grew up in Montgomery County cheering the hometown team.

They are not the only bidders, though. Other prospective buyers include Bezos and Tilman Fertitta, owner of the NBA’s Houston Rockets. A person familiar with Fertitta’s bid said recently that he did not appear to be the front-runner to buy the team.

 

...At the heart of Danaher’s success, Spoon said, is a values-based philosophy of continuous improvement, known as the Danaher Business System, that focuses on accountability, the customer, turning problems into opportunity and the conviction that in business “the best team wins.”

 

“Continuous improvement is the way the place lives,” Spoon said. “It shows up in the way investments turn into ever-growing, valuable franchises and enterprises. And it’s not unrelated to the way one would think about maybe a great football franchise operating.”

That approach is what Spoon expects Harris and Rales to bring to the Commanders, if their bid is successful.

 

“Mitch keenly supports whatever enterprise he connects himself to, but stylistically, Mitch won’t choose to be the face of the team if they succeed,” Spoon said. “He’ll certainly be there in financial support and more. But Josh appears to be taking the lead on this.”

Rales lived through the glorious eras of Washington’s NFL team in the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s.

“In Mitch’s mind, he sees the palpable heritage of the team and its future as being a rallying point of the community,” Spoon said. “That’s the way Mitch operates. Glenstone is a commitment to the community. His philanthropy is a commitment to the community.”

Edited by Skinsinparadise
  • Like 1
  • Thanks 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites
thebluefood

thebluefood

Posted
Posted
On 3/9/2023 at 12:28 PM, Skinsinparadise said:

Depends for me what day it happens but I might.  I spent way too much time and angst on slamming and bemoaning this dude for way too long, among many others have likewise done here.  Feels like I need to do something if it goes down.

 

 

ost

Not only will I be there, I'll be high stepping down the street like an HBCU drum major - uniform and all

  • Like 1
  • Haha 6
  • Super Duper Ain't No Party Pooper Two Thumbs Up 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...