The Washington Commanders are still owned by Dan Snyder and the Josh Harris-led group of nearly two dozen individuals is still expected to win the NFL's approval to assume control. But things are still moving at what feels like a glacial pace for Washington football fans.
Sportico's Eben Novy-Williams joined Craig Hoffman to discuss the latest news on how the structure of the Harris group's bid impacts them winning the league's approval, a quick lesson on the ins and outs of financing a billion-dollar deal, and how specifically the $6 billion winning bid for the Commanders came together.
Novy-Williams begins by breaking down the key details in order of ease of understanding:
1) equity: the cash the group puts down to buy the team, the NFL wants this number to be high and needs to be $1.8 billion - and would like it to be all-cash like in the purchase of the Denver and Carolina franchises
2) secured debt: the debt that the group has put together that is collateralized already - assets they are burrowing against, the NFL likes this type of debt because it is attached to an asset
3) unsecured debt: debt that is taken on that is not attached to an asset, and this last group (which is about $1 billion) is the sticking point that the league and the Harris group are going back and forth over because the NFL is not interested in this number is too high
The way Novy-Williams reads it the situation is a "who's going to blink first? Is Josh gonna be willing with his group to change the financing a bit, which I believe is possible for them should they really want to? Or is the NFL eventually going to say 'Ok, We're Ok with this... and we're ready to move forward with this new ownership group.'"
Of course, there is an issue in the deal where a private equity fund would be holding equity in the Commanders under the Harris group's deal to buy the team and the NFL does not allow for private equity in ownership. To hear the full explanation listen on the player above.
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