Daniel Kaplan co-wrote a story in The Athletic with Ben Standig on Monday night that the Josh Harris bid for the Commanders at least partially indemnifies Daniel Snyder, meaning that group will take on some financial culpability for any actions levied against the organization that are from pre-sale transgressions but are adjudicated post-sale.
“What I was told is that the agreement sent by the Harris group to the NFL included a provision to partially indemnify Snyder in the event some of these investigations lead to fines or litigations,” Kaplan told Grant & Danny on Tuesday. “The person I spoke to specifically mentioned the Mary Jo White investigation; I don’t know which other ones in particular, but clearly there was a risk-sharing provision between the buyer and seller.”
But wait – can Harris do that?
“I think Snyder was looking for it from either the league if the buyer, and whether or not the league signs off on it remains to be seen,” Kaplan said. “If not, I suppose they can go back to Snyder and say we tried, but it’s one that needs to pass muster at the league before it becomes official. And there could be any number of scenarios to this, including the limited partners suing for being misled about the value of the franchise when they sold.”
Danny wanted to know why this sale process has been so bizarre, and the answer is “Dan Snyder.”
“Well, in part it was a forced sale, but it’s also because Snyder isn’t communicating with the league office,” Kaplan said. “Last month at the NFL Owner’s Meetings, Arthur Blank said the reporters seem to know more about the sale process than the owners do, which is startling, but that underscores it. That’s probably why the Harris group is sending the offer to the league to see if they’ll sign off on it, instead of the team. I’ve never heard of an agreement being sent to the league otherwise when it was non-exclusive.”
Even once you get to this point, it’s still a lengthy process for the sale to close, so there will be comprehensive reviews and any outstanding details will be buttoned up, Kaplan said, and then the NFL’s Finance Committee has to look at the details before it moves on to the ownership and needs 24 of 31 votes to ratify the sale.
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Because of that, he’s not optimistic that this will all be settled by the May Owner’s Meetings in Minneapolis – although Grant wondered if previous vetting of Harris could speed it up a bit?
“It always could be accelerated and be done by next month, but the folks I’ve talked to don’t see the NFL changing its process to rush through this,” Kaplan said. “If there’s a signed agreement, another month or two doesn’t make a difference.”
So when does Kaplan think this will all wrap up?
“I wouldn’t want to make any predictions because it’s been such a strange process, but assuming the NFL can get comfortable with the provisions in the agreement, I’d imagine we get a signed agreement in the next couple weeks,” he said. “I don’t believe it will be all done and settled by the May owner’s meetings, but I’d expect the sale to be done at least by training camp.”
But of course, as Kaplan himself even said, “Until it’s signed, sealed, and delivered, Snyder is a loose cannon, so who knows if he suddenly does a 180?”
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