Nearly 24 years after Daniel Snyder purchased the Washington Commanders, he is working with Bank of America to identify a group of bidders who will eventually buy the team. Searching for a new majority owner, Jeff Bezos was believed to be a strong candidate to emerge as the eventual frontrunner, due to his past interest in owning an NFL franchise, in addition to being one of the richest individuals in the world.
But after months of rumors suggesting there may be issues between Snyder and Bezos stemming from the latter’s control of The Washington Post, which helped document claims of sexual harassment that may have led to the decision to sell, it appears the founder of Amazon is now out of the running. At least temporarily.
According to The Athletic‘s Ben Standig and Daniel Kaplan, Bezos is “not allowed” to place a bid on the Washington football franchise. The institution handling the sale, Bank of America, has relayed this message to the billionaire entrepreneur.
While this may be news to the greater public, the report states Bezos has known this for several months.
Ultimately, The Athletic‘s sources indicate that “it’s a free country, he (Snyder) can sell it to whomever he wants.”
While it would appear that Bezos would no longer have a chance to buy the Commanders, the report still suggests the NFL could end up forcing Snyder’s hand, allowing Bezos to get back involved.
Related: Washington Commanders star Daron Payne to be handed franchise tag
Who else is interested in buying the Washington Commanders?
- Byron Allen – Media investor
- Behdad Eghbali, Jose Feliciano – Founders of Clearlake Capital
- Josh Harris – Partner with Philadelphia 76ers, New Jersey Devils
It should be noted that both Byron Allen and the Eghbali/Feliciano group were also involved in the recent bidding process to purchase the Denver Broncos. Yet the Broncos sold for $4.65 billion, and the price to purchase the Commanders is expected to be anywhere from $5.5 billion to seven-billion.
There’s also the possibility of Snyder not selling the team at all if he doesn’t receive an offer to his liking. Basically, we haven’t seen much progress on the potential sale of the Commanders.
Related: Washington Commanders sale reportedly in jeopardy, Daniel Snyder not happy with offers