Count WaPo’s Barry Svrluga among those who, both personally and professionally, is looking forward to the sale of the Commanders to Josh Harris becoming official, a deal that got one step closer Friday when Daniel Snyder agreed to the terms of Harris’ bid.
When he joined BMitch & Finlay Monday live from Nationals Park ahead of Monday’s matinee to discuss that news, Svrluga admitted that the minute he heard the news, he understood why the official word was such a big deal to the people of DC.
“I asked my office immediately if I should write, and what we went with was write when it’s official with the NFL and signed, sealed, and delivered – but I get it,” Svrluga said. “I was listening to the radio on Friday, and just the emotion in people’s voices, knowing there is hope and reason to be optimistic…I can’t deny it felt the realest it’s ever felt, even if all of us thought this was going to happen. To hear both sides announces it is palpable, and it makes everything feel full of possibility going forward. This is the biggest story in DC sports in a long time, and potentially repositions a franchise back to the top of the totem pole in town before they've even won a game yet.”
Brian Mitchell never believed in any other group other than Harris’, and now, Svrluga says, we can officially focus on him and how his past with the Devils and Sixers can carry over to how he and the group will run the Commanders.
“I think there is an assumption Josh Harris will run this as a business using a businessman’s thinking, not as a fan with a fan’s thinking,” Svrluga said. “There will be a professionalism and lack of impulsiveness, a more reasoned approach that makes everything seem more positive and optimistic.
There won’t be this eternal feeling of waiting for the other shoe to drop because the owner was going to mess things up. Now, maybe you’re thinking the owner can fix this problem, not make it worse.”
So, as JP asked the same question he asked listeners earlier in the show: what should be the Harris group’s first order of business – and to perhaps no one’s surprise, it’s location.
“If Josh Harris and his group can be skilled enough politically and good enough negotiators to steer the stadium search back to the RFK site, that would be my No. 1 thing,” Svrluga said. “I always thought that the three biggest issues with this franchise were owner, stadium, quarterback, likely in that order; ownership is taken care of. I feel like if you go to National Harbor, or Dumfries or Loudoun County, you’re at risk of re-alienating at least some segment of an already alienated fan base. The 49ers no longer play in San Francisco, and that is a problem; so, I think the one unifying site would be the RFK site, because there’s romantic attachment to it, it’s centrally located, and it’s in the city the team is named for. It will take a lot of deftness to make it happen, but that’s what I would label.”
Related
JP knows that elected officials’ jobs are to fight for the people who elect them, and said, ‘I truly believe no one, even the politicians, gets made if the site is RFK.’ And, that’s where Svrluga doubled down on why it will take some political skill to make it happen.
“The only pushback I’d give as someone who lives in Ward 6, which is where RFK sits…Councilman Charles Allen is one of many opposed to using the RFK site for something that’s not mixed use and affects residents more than a stadium,” he said. “That’s what I mean when I say they have to have the skill and tact to swing some of those people to become champions of it – and that’s not even getting into the fact that the District doesn’t own that land.”
The ownership change might ‘inherently open doors that were clearly closed’ now, though, so we’ll see if it now becomes a bidding war?
“What you want from the Harris group is the idea that they’re not looking for the best deal for them as owners, but the best deal for the franchise and the fan base,” Svrluga said. “What would re-energize and refocus this fan base, and allow this to be a bonding experience and not a bickering experience.”
Listen to Svrluga’s entire appearance with BMitch & Finlay above!
Follow BMitch & Finlay on Twitter: @BMitchliveNBCS, @JPFinlayNBCS, and @BMitchandFinlay
Keep up with 106.7 The Fan via:
Audacy App | Online Stream | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram