Goodbye Gruden and ongoing Snyder investigation discussion

BigSoxFan

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I wonder if buyers actually pay a premium to succeed a vilified owner like Snyder or Sterling. I mean, I’ve never heard of Josh Harris, but I’ll bet he’ll enjoy a long honeymoon period with fans, as Steve Ballmer did when he bought the Clippers. It’s arguably a better situation than succeeding a beloved owner.
Harris is a Henry type. Not the most gregarious personality but a really smart finance guy who now has 2 teams, Sixers and Devils, who are much better off than when he acquired them. Coming in after Snyder is the perfect situation for any owner. Expectations are so low than any marginal improvement will feel like a big success to fans.
 

Van Everyman

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Hey guys, it’s not done yet! Apparently, there’s an 11th hour bid by Christian Laettner and the other guy who owns DC United for $7B that involves some billion dollar layaway plan and an inflated $50B valuation of the second guy’s fern energy company.

My first thought is: is this Snyder trying to squeeze Harris for more money? Probably.
 

trekfan55

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Hey guys, it’s not done yet! Apparently, there’s an 11th hour bid by Christian Laettner and the other guy who owns DC United for $7B that involves some billion dollar layaway plan and an inflated $50B valuation of the second guy’s fern energy company.

My first thought is: is this Snyder trying to squeeze Harris for more money? Probably.
My other thought is that we would all like Snyder to lose his shirt when forced to sell the team, there is a market. The NFL is a very limited club and a lot of billionaires want in. Plus there are limited occasions when a club comes for sale and this is one of them. So yeah, some offers will come out of the woodwork.

This is capitalism at its best. Unavoidable.
 

cornwalls@6

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I love that statement. A completely amoral, vindictive swine. Who went kicking and screaming. But he loves his buyers and will be rooting for the team for years to come!! These people really are so cartoonishly narcissistic and isolated in their bubbles, I think they really believe Washington fans are lapping that drivel up.
 

dcdrew10

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Van Everyman

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And yet, according to Florio, Brian Davis is potentially going to throw a wrench into the works by suing BofA for not presenting his offer to Snyder.
Via Jason Morrin of ConductDetrimental.com, Urban Echo Energy has filed a lawsuit against Bank of America over the failed bid to buy the team. In the civil complaint, the company claims that Bank of America failed to present the $7.1 billion bid to outgoing owner Daniel Snyder and that, if Bank of America had done so, Snyder would have accepted it.

The lawsuit also contends that $5.1 billion had been deposited with Bank of America for the transaction.
Among the potential implications:
Depending on the way this lawsuit unfolds, it could potentially plunge the entire sale process into chaos, delaying the sale to Josh Harris for $6.05 billion while Davis’s company tries to force the sale of the Commanders to him, regardless of whether he personally has the cash necessary to buy 30 percent of the team and regardless of the specific source of the money that would be purchasing the asset.

There has been at least one report raising the question of whether Davis’s financial backing traces to Saudi Arabia. Asked that question on 106.7 The Fan, Davis said, “My money comes from white people . . . who are Jewish, Italian, and Sicilian.”
This one however was the most interesting:
Regardless of who his investors might be, Davis must have enough money to purchase without debt or investment 30 percent of the company in his own name. Unless, of course, he is able to successfully challenge the NFL’s rules and regulations regarding franchise ownership as antitrust violations.

If that’s where this is headed, and if it works, it would revolutionize the rules for NFL ownership, opening the door to private equity funds (domestic and foreign), corporate acquisitions, and in theory a decision by one or more current owners to take their teams public.
 

nattysez

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It hopefully doesn't mean anything, but if I were a long-suffering Washington fan, I'd be worried about how tricky this owner's bid seems to be. I don't recall the Denver purchase being this fraught.

My main concern would be whether my new owner has the money to do all of the work on the facilities and roster needed to be competitive again, especially if he's simultaneously figuring out how to pay for a multi-million dollar new stadium.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/37787548/sources-josh-harris-see-committee-commanders-sale
 

BigSoxFan

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It hopefully doesn't mean anything, but if I were a long-suffering Washington fan, I'd be worried about how tricky this owner's bid seems to be. I don't recall the Denver purchase being this fraught.

My main concern would be whether my new owner has the money to do all of the work on the facilities and roster needed to be competitive again, especially if he's simultaneously figuring out how to pay for a multi-million dollar new stadium.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/37787548/sources-josh-harris-see-committee-commanders-sale
He definitely has the money. I think the complexity is basically being driven by the LP structure, which is, admittedly, more complex than Denver who only had 3 per the article.
 

johnmd20

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He definitely has the money. I think the complexity is basically being driven by the LP structure, which is, admittedly, more complex than Denver who only had 3 per the article.
Denver was Walmart money, too. Rob Walton is worth almost 60 billion dollars and he's currently the richest NFL owner. Kind of incredible he could buy the Broncos and barely see a dent in his liquid assets.

Anyway, Denver went easy because it was one of the richest people in the world.
 

BigSoxFan

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Denver was Walmart money, too. Rob Walton is worth almost 60 billion dollars and he's currently the richest NFL owner. Kind of incredible he could buy the Broncos and barely see a dent in his liquid assets.

Anyway, Denver went easy because it was one of the richest people in the world.
True but Harris has credibility due to his ownership of Sixers and Devils. He’s a known quantity at this point but the Walmart transaction was clearly far less complicated. The debt/equity requirements of the NFL really do weed out all but the richest of owners.