We are less than three weeks away from the NFL owner’s meetings that begin on March 26 in Phoenix. Why is that date so significant? That’s been the date many have said the NFL hoped to have a resolution regarding the sale of the Washington Commanders.
In other words, NFL owners hoped to approve a new owner at the league meetings.
This week, some NFL owners met in West Palm Beach, Fla., for committee meetings, and, as expected, the Commanders were a hot topic.
According to Mark Maske of The Washington Post. owners discussed the potential sale of the Commanders and “other issues regarding team owner Daniel Snyder.”
Presumably, those other issues were likely the multiple investigations into Snyder, including the NFL’s Mary Jo White investigation. There’s also last week’s explosive report from ESPN that centered around a questionable $55 million loan Snyder received from Bank of America that created a rift between him and his former co-owners.
The following is part of Maske’s report from the meetings:
Some owners emerged from the meetings still hopeful that Snyder will agree to sell the Commanders without a vote to force a sale, said those people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the confidentiality of the bidding and the possibility of an eventual legal conflict with Snyder. Other owners apparently were not as optimistic about that prospect.
Maske mentioned how some of the owners hoped Snyder would sell the Commanders without the other NFL owners voting to force a sale. As of now, Snyder’s intentions remain a mystery.
As for the vote to force a sale:
The owners will not move toward a vote to remove Snyder at the March meeting, the person said.
Another interesting nugget from Maske’s report indicates that Snyder hasn’t given many details to the league or his fellow owners on the current bidding process. The only publicly known bids are from NBA owners Josh Harris and Tilman Fertitta.
It sounds like Snyder’s fellow owners will remain patient until their meetings begin on March 26. If there is no progress on Washington’s sale at that time, then things could get interesting.
