Mark Ein is a busy man these days, as the Citi DC Open tennis tournament he helps run is now underway. He’s also got a new side gig – limited partner in the Washington Commanders, who opened training camp last week to get their season going as well.
Ein has appeared all over the 106.7 The Fan and The Team 980 airwaves over the last two weeks since the Commanders’ sale was finalized to his group headed by Josh Harris, but when he joined Kevin Sheehan on Monday, there was both a look back at hard days and a look ahead to better ones.
On the former, well, there was apparently more than one point where the Harris group wasn’t sure the sale wasn’t going to happen, although Ein joked with Sheehan that ‘you’ll have to wait for the Netflix documentary’ about the sale to really hear about it in depth.
“Every deal is hard, and this one had a lot of complexity. There were a lot of really hard days in this process, but what got us through it was knowing how important this was for the community,” Ein said. “This one definitely was, but we’re not looking backwards, we’re looking forward. Just seeing the outpouring of support from the fans, and the endless messages of encouragement and ticket sales…everyone is coming around this effort. As much as we anticipated it would be like this, all of that just made it even better. We want to deliver a world-class experience for our fans and players, and this is an amazing start. Now, we want to make the first game a good experience for the fans, and I think they will. I think it will be really fantastic.”
And, unlike Dan Snyder, Josh Harris will be a really good owner, Ein believes.
“For both of us, this is the thrill of a lifetime, and he’s an awesome guy,” Ein said. “I can’t tell you how much it means to him to be back in Washington to do this. He’s going to take all the lessons he’s learned about success, and will bring it to our football team. The way he has built all of his businesses, and the way Mitch Rales has built his company, it’s all about hiring the best people, have a clear mission and set of goals and values and align everyone, and don’t sacrifice long-term for short-term.”
When it comes to that first game with Harris’ group in place, Sept. 10 at FedEx Field against Arizona, well…get ready for a party?
“I think it’s going to sell out, I really do,” Ein said.
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And as for the far future, Sheehan is more convinced than ever that the team’s name will change following comments Jason Wright made over the weekend…what say Ein?
“We live here, so we know it’s been an issue that people are really passionate about, and it’s been out there for quite a while,” Ein said. “It feels like it’s accelerated a bit since we took over, but it’s complicated. We have a lot of other things in the short-term that we want to focus and deliver on.”
And that focus is, as he revealed, non-stop.
“That Friday at FedEx, the press conference, was one of the most memorable of all of our lives. It was extraordinary, and we were all on an 8 AM Zoom the next morning talking about the first game and the fan experience.
It’s around the clock. This isn’t lip service, this is legit; everyone, starting with Josh, is focused on getting this right in the short and long-term, and we will. We will never forget the people who join with us this year, because we know people are buying into hope and promise, and we’re grateful for those who joined us Day 1 in this journey.”
Take a listen to Ein’s entire call-in with Sheehan, including Commanders and Washington Open talk, above!
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