A day after announcing they've hired Bank of America Securities to "consider potential transactions," it's anyone's guess as to whether Dan and Tanya Snyder genuinely intend to sell the Washington Commanders.
Regardless, billionaires from Jeff Bezos to Byron Allen are already lining up in hopes of putting forward the winning bid to purchase the franchise.
One of the most plugged-in voices in the D.C. sports landscape, here's what information Grant Paulsen of 106.7 The Fan has been able to gather about the situation in the past 24 hours, about the possible sale of the Commanders.
One person Paulsen spoke with says that based on the conversations they've been having, it sounds like "it would be surprising if he didn't sell."
"I was talking to people most of last night from around the team and around the league and all kinds of different walks of football," Paulsen explained Thursday on 106.7 The Fan. "And I've heard a bunch of different theories and there are a lot of people that say he might just be doing this to buy himself some time, hoping that the Mary Jo White investigation doesn't net anything and some of these financial investigations blow over. And then Roger Goodell can grab his back in a few months and say, 'Hey, we explored selling, but now that I'm not in as much hot water, I actually want to keep the team.' That is a possibility, obviously."
Paulsen spoke with another person who he described as "pretty plugged-in" to what NFL owners might be thinking. "One thing they floated to me yesterday was, they said that based on the conversations they're having, it sounds like it would be surprising if he didn't sell," Paulsen said.
"And it might even be to the point where, you know, Tanya goes to all these meetings by herself now. Dan is not there," Paulsen said. "And the way that it was explained to them in conversations they were having with some of the real high-ups that know how the sausage is made here, they believe that owners are going to Tanya now and saying, 'Hey, we've got these votes. We can get him out of here. We can vote him out, but we don't have to. We don't want to. Why don't you guys just get your money and go?'"
The 31 other NFL owners would need to accumulate a supermajority of 24 votes to formally vote out a fellow owner. If they already have those 24 votes (or more), Snyder's goose may already be cooked, regardless of his plans.
"And they're basically telling Tanya to try to convince him: Do it on your own terms," Paulsen continued. "Let's not fight over this. We've got the votes, so make this happen. And when she goes to these meetings and she's around these owners, they're basically trying to push her to push him to do this on his own."
"This person was saying 75 percent, 70 percent-type chance that he sells," Paulsen added. "You know which, again, gets you thinking that this is going to happen at some point inevitably. I am just surprised with how confident everybody seems to be, how sure they are that this is happening."
