Sixers managing partner Josh Harris reportedly reaches deal to buy Washington Commanders
The reported $6 billion deal, if completed, would be the most paid for any North American professional sports team.
Sixers managing partner Josh Harris, leading an ownership group that includes NBA legend Magic Johnson, has reached a tentative agreement in principle to buy the NFL’s Washington Commanders for a record-setting $6 billion, multiple news outlets reported Thursday.
If approved by the National Football League, the Harris-led group would be purchasing the team from beleaguered owner Dan Snyder, who bought the team in 1999 for about $800 million.
A spokesperson for the Sixers declined to comment.
The NFL Network reported that “the sale is not final nor signed and no agreement has been sent to the league for approval, but a finalized sale is expected if all goes well.”
The Harris ownership group also includes billionaire entrepreneur Mitchell Rales. The inclusion of Johnson, who has an ownership stake in the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team, and Rales would reportedly satisfy some league requirements for the sale to be completed. And the 58-year-old Harris would need to personally own 30% of the team — an NFC East division rival of the Philadelphia Eagles.
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The $6 billion deal — if completed — would be the most paid for any North American professional sports team.
The tentative agreement was first reported by Sportico.
The sale of the Commanders would be pending the execution of a contract and then approval from the rest of the league’s owners, which could happen as soon as their next meeting in Minnesota in May but may take longer. It would need 24 of 32 votes to pass, which is not expected to be a problem after the Broncos sale was unanimously approved and given that Snyder was beginning to fall out of favor with the group.
Harris and David Blitzer led a group that purchased the Sixers for $280 million. Not long afterward, Harris and Blitzer bought the New Jersey Devils hockey team, reportedly for more than $300 million.
Harris and Blitzer in 2015 became part of a majority ownership group in the the U.K. Premier League’s Crystal Palace soccer club.
Harris owns a minority stake in the Pittsburgh Steelers, which he would need to sell before getting the Commanders.
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Last year, Harris bid for the Denver Broncos but lost to an ownership group that included an heir to the Walmart fortune. The sale price of $4.65 billion is the current record for a North American sports team.
Forbes last year estimated Harris’ net worth at more than $5 billion. Business news accounts have estimated Blitzer’s personal fortune at $1.3 billion.
Last year, Harris and Blitzer and apartment developer David Adelman announced a proposal to finance and build a new Sixers arena with 18,500 seats at 10th and Market Streets in Center City. The plan has since become a continual source of controversy, especially for its potential impact on neighboring Chinatown.
Harris, who lives in New York City, grew up in Chevy Chase, Md., and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School in 1986. He earned a Harvard MBA in 1988. He cofounded and is past chief executive at Apollo Global Management, a Wall Street firm that invests half a trillion dollars for clients.
Snyder has said repeatedly that he’d never sell the football team. But that changed after multiple investigations by the league and Congress into the Commanders’ workplace culture. The congressional investigation found that Snyder played a role in a toxic culture.
With pressure mounting, Snyder and his wife, Tanya, late last year hired Bank of America Securities to explore a possible sale of the team.
One of the other reported bidders for the team was Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta.
This article contains information from the Associated Press.