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Mod Notice: Temp Ban if Post on Changing the Name. Per New York Times: Dan Syder Agrees to Sell Washingon Commaders for $6B

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Skinsinparadise

Skinsinparadise

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1 hour ago, Califan007 The Constipated said:

 

 

If Harris does start over, I imagine this would be a HUGE reason why he does.

 

Yeah it was the reporters main point, forgot the name of the dude but he said he has a specialist that just kicks butt on stadium issues, its his niche and has been Harris' go to guy for this issue.

 

That same reporter thought Harris would favor DC for the stadium and based on Harris' press conference he's looking correct on that front.

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Skinsinparadise

Skinsinparadise

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“There were definitely points that I felt that this was not going to happen,” Mitchell Rales, the co-founder of Danaher Corporation and the top investor in Harris’s group, told The Post earlier this week. “ … [Harris and I] were saying we’re spending a lot of money on this process with lawyers and accountants and others. Do we want to continue down this road? We both concluded together, and we always made these decisions together, do we want to continue to hang around the hoop? And the answer was yes.”

 

The complexity of the deal stems in part from the sheer value; the $6.05 billion price was the highest ever for a U.S. pro sports franchise, far surpassing the $4.65 billion Rob Walton’s family paid for the Denver Broncos in 2022.

 

 

“I was an investor by trade, and I’m used to deals, but this has definitely been super complicated,” Harris said. “It’s like 20 deals in one.”

Harris’s investment group features approximately 20 limited partners, including Rales, D.C. venture capitalist and sports team owner Mark Ein, pro basketball legend Earvin “Magic” Johnson, Google co-founder Eric Schmidt and David Blitzer, the co-founder of Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment. Although the group collectively has a net worth of hundreds of billions of dollars, it includes families and international investors whom the NFL and its attorneys had to individually vet.

 

The NFL’s finance committee initially raised concerns about the structure of Harris’s deal, believing it was over the league’s $1.1 billion debt limit. But Harris agreed to make adjustments, and he and Rales left an in-person meeting with the committee on June 7 at the NFL’s offices in Manhattan with their part of the transaction essentially done.

 
 

“In the deal business, most deals don’t get done,” Harris said. “So I always approach these things and manage my own expectations in terms of what’s going to happen. … Once we engaged, I felt that our chances were good because it would be hard for someone else to put together what we put together.”

 

The deal crossed the final hurdle when attorneys for the NFL and for Daniel Snyder resolved the outstanding legal issues that could’ve delayed the approval vote and close of the sale, two people with knowledge of the deliberations said Monday. The Snyders had been unwilling to indemnify the league and the other owners for legal liability stemming from Jon Gruden’s lawsuit against the NFL, people familiar with the situation said. The terms of the resolution between the Snyders and the NFL remain unclear.

 

Harris’s group also had to compete against two other bids, from Canadian investor Steve Apostolopoulos and Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta, and faced the possibility of a third.

 

“Listen, everybody kept expecting Jeff Bezos to come out of left field and buy this franchise,” Rales said. “I gave it a high probability.”

 

The Amazon founder and owner of The Washington Post retained the investment firm Allen & Company to evaluate a potential bid. Although he declined to bid, there was speculation he might swoop in late in the process and top the highest offer, given his estimated net worth of approximately $160 billion.

Harris, who co-founded the private equity firm Apollo Global Management, built his fortune on acquiring distressed assets and creating value. He parlayed it into a career as a sports team owner, acquiring the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers, NHL’s New Jersey Devils, Premier League’s Crystal Palace and a minority stake in Joe Gibbs Racing.

 

Harris’s bid failed to win the Broncos auction last year, and he moved quickly after the Snyders’ announcement in November to make a play for his hometown team. How quickly?

“The next day?” Ein said jokingly. “This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity in our town.”

 

“There were definitely points that I felt that this was not going to happen,” Mitchell Rales, the co-founder of Danaher Corporation and the top investor in Harris’s group, told The Post earlier this week. “ … [Harris and I] were saying we’re spending a lot of money on this process with lawyers and accountants and others. Do we want to continue down this road? We both concluded together, and we always made these decisions together, do we want to continue to hang around the hoop? And the answer was yes.”

 

The complexity of the deal stems in part from the sheer value; the $6.05 billion price was the highest ever for a U.S. pro sports franchise, far surpassing the $4.65 billion Rob Walton’s family paid for the Denver Broncos in 2022.

 

 

“I was an investor by trade, and I’m used to deals, but this has definitely been super complicated,” Harris said. “It’s like 20 deals in one.”

 

Harris’s investment group features approximately 20 limited partners, including Rales, D.C. venture capitalist and sports team owner Mark Ein, pro basketball legend Earvin “Magic” Johnson, Google co-founder Eric Schmidt and David Blitzer, the co-founder of Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment. Although the group collectively has a net worth of hundreds of billions of dollars, it includes families and international investors whom the NFL and its attorneys had to individually vet.

 

“The next day?” Ein said jokingly. “This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity in our town.”

 

Ein grew up nearly a block away from Harris in Chevy Chase. Rales is from Bethesda, Md., and owns the private art museum Glenstone, a 230-acre expanse in Potomac that features the modern and contemporary art he owns with his wife, art historian Emily Wei Rales.

The three men have been devoted fans of Washington’s NFL team, often attending games at RFK Stadium and then at FedEx Field.

 

“The only sports franchise that I would ever be involved with is the one we’re talking about,” Rales said. “I have no interest in anything else in sports. It’s not really where my desires are, but I have an affinity for the Commanders and have been a lifelong fan.”

The love of the Commanders was mutual for Ein, who says he only invests in D.C. sports. A venture capitalist and philanthropist, he is also the founder of MDE Sports, which owns the Mubadala Citi DC Open tennis tournament, and the World TeamTennis franchise Washington Kastles.

 

“I had known Magic Johnson from the [NBA], so it was like the coming together of people who love sports, people who have been my partners in the past, like David Blitzer, people that we had looked at their investments in sports with, and then the Washington crowd and the NFL crowd,” Harris said. “That allowed for us to bring in a lot of great investors.”

 

Although most of the work for Harris’s group was done with the attorneys and bankers representing each side, Harris did have some direct interactions with Daniel Snyder throughout the eight-month process. His interactions with team executives, however, were minimal. The NFL prohibited the impending owners from dealing with current employees until the sale closed.

 

“I think that getting to know people and giving people the opportunity to succeed is important,” Harris said. “So we’re going to be doing a lot of watching, listening, learning and getting up to speed over the next year.”

But after a tedious eight months, Harris spent his first moments as an NFL owner getting to know some other people. Inside a ballroom at a Minneapolis-area hotel, he sat before his fellow NFL owners to learn his group’s deal for the Commanders had been approved.

“All negotiations are filled with surprises,” Rales said. “There were plenty of surprises here. But at the end of the day, we’re grateful that [Snyder] decided to sell the team and that we were the chosen one. He could have certainly gone in a different direction.”

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2023/07/20/josh-harris-rales-commanders-owners/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=wp_redskins

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Skinsinparadise

Skinsinparadise

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4 minutes ago, CRobi21 said:

Josh buying all the fans beer just warms my heart. I know billionaires view of reality is a bit warped, but it's not that hard to be a decent human being!

 

Yeah especially considering context.  I am sure he's mobbed wirth congratulations from others, conversatons with fellow owners, etc.  Yet, he's self aware enough to bond with fans today.

 

It was a short press conference but from what i saw and read he killed it.  IMO he gave a vibe that he gets it.  And i love it.

 

I was a Harris fan and wanted him to be the guy to get this team for many months now.  But his start today, really has cemented it.  He IMO has killed it today. 

 

 

 

 

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Skinsinparadise

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Commanders fans celebrate the day the ‘nightmare’ ended

 

t was 4:57 p.m. when local radio host John Auville, better known as “Cakes from the Junkies,” took the stage at the Bullpen outside Nationals Park. He looked out into the crowd of about a hundred fans and relayed the news — finally, officially — for which so many had waited so long.

 
 

“The nightmare is done!” he screamed as the crowd roared. “Dan Snyder is dead! Long live Josh Harris!”

Over the next hour, fans streamed into the square ringed by bars and shipping containers. Many wore jerseys or a wide array of Snyder-hate shirts: “Fire Dan Snyder,” “Worst Owner Ever,” “D-----bag,” “Sell the Team,” “Burgundy & Sold” and three or four different versions of “Bye Dan,” including one with the team’s mascot, Major Tuddy, as a bouncer throwing Snyder out.

 

Puffs of cigar smoke wafted through the air. Friends and strangers toasted plastic cups of amber. The sight of asphalt covered by burgundy-and-gold-clad life felt unfamiliar; it was fuller here than the parking lots at FedEx Field have been in years. Over and over, the fans told each other that they couldn’t quite believe Daniel Snyder had actually sold their team. Was this a dream?

 

Shortly after 6 p.m., Cakes retook the stage. New owner Josh Harris, he announced, was buying everyone a beer! The crowd roared again. It was the first time in as long as anyone could remember that the owner of Washington’s pro football team had paid for his fans to have something for free.

In line for beer, a group of young men started a chant that quickly gained steam: “F--- Dan Snyder!” The band dedicated their next song to Snyder, and after a blink of confusion from the crowd, they launched into the hit by Cee Lo Green: “F--- You.”

 

In Minnesota on Thursday, Harris bought an asset. Through one lens, the Washington Commanders are cold and calculable, 1/32 of the most profitable sports league in the country. The franchise is simply the latest, brightest bauble in Harris’s sprawling sports empire.

 

But through another lens, one many fans in the DMV and beyond were looking through Thursday, the sale of the team is nothing short of pure, uncut hope. Hope not just for a championship or a winning season but decency and competence. For headlines about football, not investigations. For pride, not shame.

“It’s all possible now,” Ian Tuckman, 64, of Lanham said.

Earlier in the day, a short walk away from the team’s headquarters in Ashburn, Sean Kinslow, 28, couldn’t bring himself to be as overjoyed as many others. Don’t get it twisted: He was ecstatic to be free from Snyder. He was born and raised in Loudoun County, and maybe only that upbringing and his love of football had helped him weather two name changes, dozens of losses on Sundays and a bevy of friends who’d abandoned him as a fan.

 

But sitting at a small party at Old Ox Brewery, he couldn’t help but feel a little bitter. He was born after the glory years and into a fan base that had to endure the reign of maybe the worst owner in professional sports history.

“It feels like 20 wasted years,” he said. “Looking back, you devote so much time and energy and thought to a team that was never going anywhere.”

 

Now, Commanders employees in football and business understand the frustration of fans and the long and difficult road they’ll have to take back with so many who once loved them. But according to three team employees, who all spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive day, the mood of the organization on Thursday was jubilant.

 

In Ashburn, team headquarters buzzed. Coaches felt fresh from vacation. Players stopped by to lift or visit a trainer. Box trucks trundled in and out, dropping off supplies with training camp just five days away. Big new bleachers were already set up by the practice fields, just waiting to welcome back fans.

“Vibes are high,” said one person in the facility. “No more distractions.”

In the offices at FedEx Field, business employees worked to put the finishing touches on the rally to welcome Harris on Friday. The team was expecting thousands of fans. The office itself felt different, one employee said, looser and more at ease following months of anxiety over public scandals, internal battles and the ever-present cloud of uncertainty.

 

“You feel the weight lifted off your shoulders — and I think that’s a feeling a lot of people have around the office,” the employee said, adding, “There’s a lot buzz from the fanbase for this new era.”

During the day, at the parties and on the airwaves, it became clear how many broken relationships Snyder leaves in his wake. Former running back Brian Mitchell pointed out he was one of the first players Snyder pushed out. The crowd at the Bullpen booed. “Yeah, I thought he was an a--hole too,” he said.

Jay Gruden — the longest-tenured coach of the Snyder era, at 5 1/2 years — discussed his former boss for a full hour live on the radio. He told stories about Snyder’s behavior aboard his superyacht, his consistent interference in football decisions despite never studying tape and how he once earned a contract extension because Snyder wanted to distract the fan base from the bad publicity of firing another executive.

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2023/07/20/daniel-snyder-commanders-fans/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=wp_redskins

 

 

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zCommander

zCommander

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3 hours ago, RVAskins said:

Snyder should be forced to wear this and walk the streets of DC.

images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT4H4VZy_CmnfaUUSd4F7u

Snyder should be forced to wear this and walk the streets of DC.

 

 

 

Thank you Harris for killing Dan! :D

 

Edited by zCommander
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Skinsinparadise

Skinsinparadise

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"This franchise is part of who I am," Harris said. "But being a fan is not enough. To be successful, we need to win championships, create a positive impact on the community and create incredible memories for our fan base much like I had as a youth growing up in Washington."

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell called Harris a "great addition" to the NFL, pointing to his record in business, sports and his work in communities.

"As someone who grew up in Washington, I know how important that franchise is to that community," Goodell said. "The franchise is in good hands with this group. ... They want to put that franchise where they think it belongs, where it's respected -- not just in the community, but worldwide."

 

Harris and Snyder entered into an exclusive agreement May 12, but the NFL's finance committee, according to Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay, wanted Harris to adjust his offer to get in compliance with NFL guidelines. Harris could not carry more than $1.1 billion in debt, and the committee wanted him to have more equity in the purchase. The primary owner must put up 30% of the sum.

Getting the bid in compliance, among other issues, had caused the vote to be delayed.

The finance committee met with Harris for the first time June 7 in New York, which led to Irsay being more optimistic that a deal would be approved.

Thursday's special session lasted nearly 2 hours, 45 minutes before the sale was officially approved.

 

"It's going to be a great day for the NFL," Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said before the meeting. "It's a hallmark day. Excited about the prospects of going into Washington and giving them some capital punishment."

Harris' group includes NBA Hall of Famer Magic Johnson and billionaire Mitchell Rales, who, like Harris, is from Maryland. There are 20 limited partners in the Harris group, under the NFL limit of 25. Each partner had to be vetted for financial and security reasons.

 

"This is truly the biggest achievement in my business career and a historic moment for the entire Black community," Johnson posted to Twitter on Thursday. "Talk about God's perfect timing. This was the right organization for me to be a part of given it's global appeal, history of winning, and the diverse fanbase and DMV community. ... I am honored and ecstatic to be a co-owner of the Commanders franchise!"

 

 

 

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White also found that the Commanders failed to cooperate with her investigation. Snyder agreed to be interviewed last month for the investigation but limited that interview to one hour, according to White’s findings that are detailed in a 22-page document.

“I think that the findings speak for themselves,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said at a news conference. “We had an obligation to release those publicly. We did. We shared those with the ownership today [and] had a full discussion of that. The findings do speak for themselves. In both cases, particularly with Ms. Johnston, that’s inappropriate. It’s wrong. It doesn’t match our values. … Her findings were clear.”

 

...White’s findings sustained Johnston’s allegation that Snyder put his hand on her thigh under the table and pushed her toward the back seat of his car.

 

The investigation also sustained another allegation by Johnston that a former senior executive for the team improperly took and viewed an unedited cheerleader calendar photo. But the evidence was insufficient to show that Snyder was involved in that incident, White’s investigation concluded.

 

...The investigation also identified as much as an additional $44 million in revenue that was transferred from shareable to non-shareable accounts. But White’s investigation was not able to determine the exact amount the team improperly transferred, citing a lack of evidence. Under NFL policy, 34 percent of this type of revenue was required to be shared with other teams.

 

 

...The investigation concluded that Snyder was aware and supportive of the team’s efforts to minimize revenue-sharing, and that he set a tone at the top of the organization.

 

According to White’s findings, Snyder declined to be interviewed “for nearly a year” before agreeing to speak to her team remotely on June 29. In the one-hour interview, Snyder denied Johnston’s allegations of sexual harassment and claimed to have “little knowledge or recollection of any substantive information” relevant to Friedman’s claims of financial improprieties.

 

Yet White found that Snyder “personally engaged” in the team’s efforts to shield NFL revenue “including through discussion of strategies” with witnesses to his efforts, saying that he sought “ ‘profit, profit’ and ‘always going to get every last dollar.’ ” Her probe concluded that Snyder recognized that, as the team’s owner, he was ultimately responsible for what occurred with the franchise.

 

The findings stated that some former team employees in sales, ticketing and finance agreed to be interviewed and acknowledged to White’s investigative team that Commanders personnel knew the methods of shielding revenue violated NFL policy. Their recollections to White’s team were corroborated by emails, including one from 2010 in which a former employee, after agreeing to move some revenue that should have been shared with the NFL to a college football game, “jokingly emailed the CFO: ‘[i]f the NFL had a jail … we would be in it,’ ” according to White’s findings.

 

Emails also corroborated what Friedman told House Oversight Committee members about the team maintaining “two sets of books,” including one set of financial records used to underreport certain ticket revenue to the NFL. Some of the documents included in the emails “explicitly detailed” how shareable revenue were improperly diverted to non-shareable accounts, according to White’s findings.

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2023/07/20/mary-jo-white-snyder-commanders/

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RandyHolt

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I think we have to go all out. I think that this situation absolutely requires a really inappropriate team supporting gesture be done on somebody’s part. Maybe all fans should go commando tomorrow.

 

What a ****ing nightmare his tenure has been. Good riddance and time to retire the Dancing Dan gif and intervention avatars. I may need to buy a jersey or something like when the Caps won the cup.

get down dancing GIF

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Dissident2

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Man, I haven't posted here in ages. I wasn't going to say anything or post anything until it was clear that Danya was EXORCISED. 

 

I dedicate this moment to everyone who said, so many EFFING times, "just accept it," "Who cares?", "He's never going to sell," "Dan's not going anywhere," etc., etc., etc. 

 

You know who you are. 

 

This was a grassroots effort led by a handful of brave people who started the ball rolling and never stopped. People who never gave up. Who did whatever they could, some a little, some a lot, to collectively dent that armor until it COLLAPSED, FINALLY. If those people had resigned themselves to the so-called "inevitable," nothing would've ever changed. Thankfully, sometimes, people can make a difference. This is one of those times. 

 

I can root for this team again. I can get invested in this team again. What a great day. 

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