Commanders rookies have reported to camp and the rest of the crew reports later this week, and the new era of the team under Josh Harris’ ownership group is underway.
And of all the excitement around the team because of that change in leadership, well, the biggest thing to be happy about might be the fact that it seems, once again, that the Commanders will be treated like an actual entity worth doing business with.
“Camp is about to start for the Commanders, and there is fairly unprecedented momentum around the team that we haven’t seen in a quarter-century,” JP Finlay said on Monday’s BMitch & Finlay Show.
While Dan Snyder was a pariah for much of his ownership tenure, the Commanders now have a leader in Josh Harris who is an owner in three cities and three leagues, a co-owner in Mitchell Rales who has one of the largest corporations within DC (and ‘likely gets his calls returned by the mayor,” as JP said), and Magic Johnson as the charismatic celebrity of the group.
“Someone has to have the connect, someone has to have the wherewithal, and someone has to be the person everyone wants to talk to – and I think they have all that in the group,” BMitch said. “No matter who is who, people want to talk now, when they never wanted to have a discussion before. Now they want to talk, which is all that matters, because if you don’t have conversations, it’s hard for business deals to be struck.”
There’s also Mark Ein, who is in the DC Business Hall of Fame and has a key to the city, so when it comes to making things happen, he’s the guy who can get it done without becoming a guy no one wants to work with.
“They have the right people in place,” BMitch said. “I’ve known Mark for years, and the personalities of the people in this group is what will get them places. You can get a lot of money and become a straight ass to people, and they don’t want to deal with you, or you can get that money and still be who you are.”
That’s the kind of people Ein, and Harris, and the rest of the group have shown themselves to be already in just a few days as Commanders owners, and the kind of people Mitchell – who has never changed his stripes as a person – appreciates.
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And it showed especially at Friday’s press conference/pep rally, when Harris’ mother coined herself “Mama Commander” and talked to BMitch, and his brother was caught chatting with JP in a casual setting.
“I talked with Josh Harris’ brother Gabe at length just because he was sitting next to me!” JP said. “Imagine how excited he was t see his family take ownership of a team they grew up loving…but he was a god guy, just happy to shoot the breeze. I met his wife and kids, and Josh Harris’ sons, and they couldn’t have been nicer!”
Just normal billionaires, whose acquisition of the Commanders is the beginning of the journey, not the culmination of the quest.
“In no way, for any of these people, was this a measuring contest; nobody up there thought that this made them better or worse than they were the day before – and I think it’s because everyone involved in this is already wildly accomplished with or without the Commanders,” JP said. “The previous regime showed the world they arrived by buying the Redskins, but this group has a lot of other stuff going on. In no way do I feel that for this group, buying the Commanders is the culmination of their life’s work – but winning a Super Bowl could be.”
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