Jim Irsay was again commenting about the Commanders.
Monday at the NFL owners meeting which is taking place Monday through Wednesday, Irsay expressed some comments regarding the Harris group hopefully getting the deal done in the purchasing of the Washington Commanders.
Irsay, the owner of the Indianapolis Colts, had recently expressed some anger feeling the Commanders had broken the NFL’s tampering rules. Irsay had warned that tampering with Colts retired quarterback Andrew Luck would bring a team trouble.
Jim Irsay on Josh Harris purchase of Commanders: “I know they really want to get a deal done and we do” pic.twitter.com/BnCTVz1D5d
— JP Finlay (@JPFinlayNBCS) May 22, 2023
But Monday, Irsay was speaking as representing the finance committee overseeing the sale of the Commanders by Daniel Snyder to the Josh Harris group.
The finance committee had met earlier Monday, and consequently, it was very reasonable that one of the committee members would update the media or answer questions.
Nicki Jhabvala of The Washington Post, provided some of Irsay’s statement:
Jim Irsay on Josh Harris's deal to purchase the Commanders: pic.twitter.com/DSOQcDlalJ
— Nicki Jhabvala (@NickiJhabvala) May 22, 2023
Listeners and readers may find themselves wondering if there has been some discussion or debate regarding the NFL rules and policies being altered. Irsay did bring up the rules and said the NFL was not changing them. Then Irsay went as far as to offer that NFL owners are looking for the same type of cooperation they received from the Broncos’ sale to the Walton family.
On the one hand, the NFL does not want to alter the rules, change the policies, or change the procedures. On the other hand, might the Harris group be responding that the world of NFL sales and purchases is escalating? In this case, the purchase price is $ 6.05 billion. This necessitates a plurality of people making a purchase, not simply a single owner.
Was Irsay speaking to the Harris group through the media about rules, policies and cooperation? Or might Irsay have been hinting that the NFL is not going to update its policies for the Harris group purchase?
Might we be in the middle of an old-fashioned game of chicken? The owners want to rid themselves of Daniel Snyder so much; might Harris actually possess more leverage than we imagined at first?