The NFL finance committee, a group of league owners whose approval is needed to green-light any sale of the Washington Commanders, will meet Wednesday and could vote to give conditional approval to the Josh Harris-led group's bid for the franchise, which is on the day's agenda. But there remain several hurdles to overcome.
According to a report from Daniel Kaplan in The Athletic, even though the deal includes many elements that would "break the mold for an NFL franchise sale," the league owners' willingness to "bend its guidelines" underscores a desire to approve the deal if it means the end of Daniel Snyder's ownership.
Some of the issues Kaplan pointed out were previously reported: The numerous limited partners – believed to be 17 in total – will increase the time needed for the league's vetting process and those who are from outside the U.S., like Colombian billionaire Alejandro Santo Domingo and his family, will increase the difficulty of such vetting.
But what is new in Kaplan's report is that the deal currently proposes the owners taking on more debt than is usually standard and Snyder extending a loan to the Harris group to get the deal finalized.
As part of the deal, Harris will secure debt against the other sports teams he owns – the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers, the NHL's New Jersey Devils, and English soccer team Crystal Palace – in addition to the group burrowing up to the $1.1 billion debt limit owners can burrow to purchase a franchise, per Kaplan.
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The loan from Snyder to the Harris group appears to be for $200 million, which Kaplan noted, is the reported difference between his asking price and the $5.8 billion to be paid at closing.
Despite the unprecedented nature of Snyder still not signing an agreement of exclusivity with the Harris group and the Harris group submitting the unsigned deal unilaterally to the NFL for conditional approval, there is the belief the deal will get finalized.
“I still believe it will get approval,” a person close to Harris told The Athletic. “It’s dragging through the NFL because they’ve never had to evaluate this type of bid. The NFL’s choice is getting Dan out (versus) working through Josh’s complexity. I think they’ll find a way, but no guarantees.”
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