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Dan Snyder has a deal in place to sell the NFL’s Washington Chiefs for the largest price paid for a North American professional sports team.
A group led by Josh Harris and Mitchell Rales that includes Magic Johnson has an agreement in principle to buy the team for a record $6.05 billion, two people familiar with the situation told The Associated Press on Thursday.
The people confirmed that the deal is a fully funded, non-exclusive agreement that has yet to be signed. The people spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal has not been finalized.
Another person told the AP that the deal has not yet been sent to the NFL for approval. The league declined to comment.
Once the deal is approved, Harris will have a controlling stake in teams in three of the four major North American pro sports leagues. He and David Blitzer have owned the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers since 2011 and the NHL’s New Jersey Devils since 2013.
Harris already has a piece of the Pittsburgh Steelers, which he must sell before asking the Commander.
The price for the Chiefs topped the previous record of $4.65 billion set when Walmart group heir Rob Walton bought the Denver Broncos last year. Johnson, a basketball Hall of Famer who also owns parts of Major League Baseball’s Los Angeles Dodgers, was also part of Harris’ bid for the Broncos.
Rales, co-founder of Danaher Corp. and resident of Maryland, and Johnson were relatively recent additions to the group. Rales and Harris grew up in the Washington suburbs of Bethesda and gave their roots to local ownership.
The Commander’s sale is pending contract execution and then approval from other league owners, which could happen after the next meeting in Minnesota in May but could take longer. It takes 24 out of 32 votes to pass, which is not expected to be a problem after the Broncos sale was unanimously approved and given that Snyder began to fall out of favor with the group.
Snyder bought his childhood favorite team in 1999 for $750 million and despite repeated criticism said he would not sell. That changed after multiple investigations by the league and Congress into workplace misconduct in Washington and potential improprieties. A congressional investigation found that Snyder played a role in a toxic culture.
It quickly became apparent that the Snyders, who bought out the previous minority owners in 2021, did not want to maintain a controlling interest. Canadian investor Steve Apostolopoulos and Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta were among the other bidders after initial interest from Washington-area businessman Todd Boehly and mortgage executive Mat Ishbia, who instead paid $4 billion for the NBA’s Phoenix Suns and WNBA’s Mercury.
The group led by Apostolopoulos was the only one to submit a fully funded bid.
‘The end of a long and difficult chapter’
Lawyers representing more than 40 former team employees hailed news of the agreement in principle, saying it “marks the end of a long and difficult chapter” for clients and fans. Lisa Banks and Debra Katz welcomed the new owners and said they “hopefully start a new chapter” at the organization.
Harris and Rales will soon assume control of a once-storied franchise that has fallen far from the 1980s and early 90s glory days, when Washington won the Super Bowl three times. With Snyder in charge, the team made the playoffs just six times in 24 seasons, won a postseason game just twice and went 166-226-2 overall.
The new owners will inherit coach Ron Rivera, who has run the football operation in Washington for three seasons, without a winning record, including the NFC East title at 7-9 in 2020, then losing in the first round.
The biggest immediate challenge to the organization’s future is a new stadium to replace FedEx Field, the team’s hastily completed home since 1997 in Landover, Maryland, which has not aged well. Virginia abandoned its stadium bill last spring because of the amount of controversy surrounding the field.
It wasn’t immediately clear what latitude Harris and Rales would have to change the team’s name, logo or other design aspects, or if they had any interest in changing course when they took over.
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