The news of an agreement being reached between Dan Snyder and the group led by Josh Harris for the latter to purchase the Commanders appeared to mark a conclusion in the team’s latest saga. As far as one party involved in the sales process is concerned, though, that may not be the case.
During an appearance on CNBC’s Squawk Box, Canadian billionaire Steve Apostolopoulos said that he considers himself to still be “in the hunt” (video link). He, along with Harris, submitted fully-funded bids for the Commanders, which appeared to narrow the field to the two of them (with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos representing a notable absentee).
While Brian Davis has reportedly entered the fray with a $7 billion offer, Apostolopoulos added that he sees the situation as a “head to head process” between himself and Harris. The latter, owner of the Philadelphia 76ers, New Jersey Devils and Premier League club Crystal Palace, has a standing bid of $6.05 billion – a figure which would comfortably exceed the sales price of the Broncos last offseason which broke the North American sports record.
The NFL will formally review the Harris bid, something which should take less time than the vetting process he went through in 2022 as a bidder for the Broncos. At first glance, no major major obstacle to his deal with Snyder being ratified – which will require the approval of at least 24 owners – exists.
As detailed by Mark Mask and Nicki Jhabvala of the Washington Post, there are thought to be only minor issues in the Harris bid, which should be resolved with relative ease. As a result, they report that Harris’ offer “almost certainly will be ratified” by the NFL and its owners, which would officially take Apostolopoulos out of the running and conclude Snyder’s scandal-ridden tenure at the helm of the organization.
The matter of indemnity could be a key factor in the Harris bid being accepted. His offer currently contains a clause which would partially protect Snyder from future legal action, and the willingness shown by other owners to approve it could go a long way in bringing the agreement over the finish line. For now, at least, Apostolopoulos is holding firm in his belief that he could ultimately overtake Harris as the successful bidder.
That news about Josh Harris funneling funny money to a candidate for Philadelphia mayor seems to have a little more impact now.
Everything about this team (possible sale, mascot change, etc., etc., etc.) is all Lame.
Got that feta cheese.
Snyder would be wise to ditch this dog as soon as possible.
Well, Snyder was reportedly underwhelmed with Harris’ party’s final offer. Would he attempt to raise Apostolopoulos’ bid, even now, on the eve of the sale to Harris? Normally, I’d say no, and I still do obviously, but you always have to wonder with Snyder. With him, it’s not over until it’s actually over.
I think the Canuk is just posturing here as he would have to pony up about $8B in Canadian dollars to match the Harris bid. Attracting investors for future projects would be easier for Apostolopoulos if he can show he battled down to the wire here.
Fair assessment, and that’s the way that I’d tend to lean. Still, it’d seem that Snyder would have to at least entertain the notion of selling to Apostolopoulos to hold up the sale, right? Otherwise, the NFL could just approve the Harris bud and be done. I admit that that I don’t know where the process is now and what, if anything, could be slowing it down. Of course, even if that were true, a bit of posturing from both Snyder and Apostolopoulos might serve both of their purposes at once.