The Washington Commanders are for sale, but reportedly not for sale to anyone.
Billionaire Jeff Bezos has been told by Bank of America, the banker of the team, that according to The Athletic and the New York Post he is not allowed to make a bid for the controversial NFL team. The ban has reportedly been known for months, but that didn’t stop Bezos from recently hiring an investment firm to examine a bid.
The reason why Dan Snyder’s camp is reportedly preventing one of the richest men in the world from offering billions of dollars for the team seems rather personal. Snyder has believed for years that The Washington Post, owned by Bezos since 2013, has been working to oust him, according to The Athletic.
It was the Post’s intrepid reporting that exposed much of the rot that was pressuring Snyder, already one of the NFL’s most unpopular owners, to sell the team.
Given what has been reported about Snyder’s personal pettiness, such as a certain story about milk and the owners of the Washington Nationals, it’s no wonder Snyder would let a grudge get in the way of what was probably the highest possible bid for his team seemed to be.
Dan Snyder is reportedly not getting the award he wanted for Commanders
Aside from Bezos’ ban, the bidding process for the Commanders is reportedly not going the way Snyder wanted, unless he was never serious about selling the team he’s owned since 1999.
It was initially reported that Snyder was looking for a $7 billion prize, which would easily break last year’s record $4.56 billion for the Denver Broncos.
The first round of bids, without Bezos, reportedly saw a high price of $6.3 billion, but the Post reports that Snyder didn’t even get that high, with a top bid of $5.5 billion coming in ahead of the deadline. this week. The Athletic also reported that all bids were under $6 billion.
However, Snyder is under no obligation to sell at a price he deems low, so he can just get on with his team and hope the NFL’s current investigation doesn’t hit him any harder than the last.
Once one of the most valuable franchises in sports, Snyder’s ownership has plummeted the value of the Commanders to sixth in the NFL at $5.6 billion, according to Forbes’ most recent valuation. The team has not won a playoff game since 2005, while attending the team’s widely maligned FedEx Field has become increasingly embarrassing.
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