Dan Snyder, longtime owner of the Washington Commanders, formerly Redskins, has agreed to a deal to sell the NFL team for $6 billion.
According to Associated Press, a group led by Magic Johnson, Josh Harris and Mitchell Rales have an agreement in principle to buy the team.
The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the deal hasn’t been finalized yet.
If the deal goes through it will be the largest sale in sports history. Snyder purchased the Washington Redskins for $800 million in 1999.
The new owners will have to find a new location and build a new stadium within the next few years, according to Sports Illustrated.
L.A. Lakers legend Magic Johnson, who has a net worth of $700 million, was a part of Harris’s failed bid to buy the NFL’s Denver Broncos last year.
Johnson is pictured with LeBron James who passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become the NBA’s all-time leading scorer on Feb. 7, 2023.
Miami Heat team president Pat Riley spoke highly of Magic Johnson’s business savvy.
“Earvin is a guy who has been a prolific businessman,” Riley told The Vertical after Johnson was hired by the Lakers as president of basketball operations in 2017. “He’s gone into companies and changed management, changed the culture. He’s charismatic, gets up in front of people and puts an immediate face on an organization … He’s the smartest player I ever coached.”
Harris, 58, and his business partner David S. Blitzer are owners of the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers, the NHL’s New Jersey Devils, Crystal Palace FC (soccer team in South London), as well as passive partners in the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers.
Billionaire Mitchell Rales, co-founder of the Danaher Corporation, promised to give away most of his $10 billion net worth while he’s still alive. He’s given away $2 billion so far.
