The Washington Commanders aren’t even officially for sale yet, but it looks that buyers are already coming up to buy the club, with Jeff Bezos among those interested.
The Amazon owner is considering purchasing the squad if it is put up for sale. Jay-Z is also reportedly interested in the Commanders, and according to reports, Bezos may explore collaborating with the rapper.
The current Commanders owner, Daniel Snyder, revealed on Wednesday that he has engaged Bank of America “to consider potential transactions” involving the team, which has caused information to leak. Snyder did not say if he intended to sell the entire franchise or simply a partial share, only that he would “exploring all options.”
If Snyder decides to sell the entire club, the final price might be close to $5 billion. The Broncos were the most recent club to be sold, and they went for $4.65 billion to Walmart heir Rob Walton. The Commanders are believed to be worth $4.7 billion, thus that would be the most likely price at which they would be sold.
Of course, money will not be an issue for Bezos, who is presently the world’s fourth richest man. According to Forbes, Bezos is worth a total of $112.9 billion, and if he purchased the Commanders, he would become the NFL’s richest owner immediately.
Bezos would have to go through a bidding procedure before he could purchase the team. He would then need to be authorized by the league’s 32 owners.
“Any potential transaction would have to be presented to the NFL Finance Committee for review and require an affirmative vote by three quarters of the full membership (24 of 32 teams),” the NFL said Wednesday.
For Bezos, each of these difficulties would be trivial formality. For one thing, no one would be able to outbid him if he actually wanted to acquire the team. Furthermore, his proposal would very certainly be approved unanimously by the owners. According to CBS Sports, Bezos spent time getting close to numerous owners and has “strong support within the league” when it comes to joining the ownership ranks.
Bezos’ links to the NFL have only expanded since that story three years ago. Amazon inked an 11-year contract with the NFL in March 2021 to become the sole supplier of “Thursday Night Football.” CNBC reports that Amazon pays the NFL around $1 billion per year for the rights.
Bezos was observed sitting close to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell at the game when the new Thursday package launched in September with Chargers-Chiefs in Week 2.
If Bezos is going to acquire a team, the Commanders make a lot of sense, and one of the main reasons is that he’s already established roots in the area. He not only owns the Washington Post, but Amazon’s massive second headquarters (HQ2) is being developed in neighboring Arlington. Not to add, the value of the club would increase with a new stadium, which Bezos would almost certainly be able to do if he became the next owner.