NFL owners will not vote on the deal billionaire Josh Harris has in place to buy the Washington Commanders when they met in Minneapolis next week, a league executive said Thursday.
Jeff Miller, the league’s executive vice president of communications, public affairs and policy, said on a video call that owners will only be updated on the state of the sale. After agreeing to terms in April, Harris and owner Dan Snyder signed the contract last week for Harris to buy the team for $6.05 billion.
For the sale to become official, NFL owners must approve Harris, his partners and the details of the deal with a three-fourths majority (24 of 32) vote. Because of the short turnaround, Miller told reporters that a vote will not take place at the league’s spring meetings next week.
“There are not going to be any votes at this time,” Miller said. “League staff and the finance committee will continue to review the details of the transactions, as they would in the normal course.”
Miller did not indicate when exactly the NFL plans to call a vote on Washington’s sale. After the Minnesota meetings that take place Monday and Tuesday, NFL owners aren’t scheduled to meet again until next October. But if the review for Harris’ deal is complete before then, the league can call a special meeting for owners to vote at any time — as it did last August when owners met to approve Rob Walton’s $4.65 billion purchase of the Denver Broncos.
Even before Harris signed a contract with Snyder, the framework of the deal was submitted to the NFL’s finance committee for an informal review. Since then, the committee — made up of eight owners — has reportedly raised concerns over the complexity of the agreement. Harris’ group includes at least 12 limited partners, all of whom must undergo an extensive review by the NFL.
Harris’ partners include NBA legend Magic Johnson, Maryland billionaire Mitchell Rales and Washington Kastles owner Mark Ein.
“I don’t really know how to compare it against other transactions, but the process (of reviewing it) is the same,” Miller said when asked about the size of Harris’ group. “We have staff working on it. Any transaction like this is important. It deserves due process and we’ll certainly go through it and do it as expeditiously as we can since the parties have an agreement.”
Though owners will be updated on the Commanders’ sale, no news is expected regarding the NFL’s latest probe of Snyder and the Commanders. Miller said Mary Jo White’s investigation is still ongoing.
White was hired in February 2022 after a former Washington employee told members of Congress that Snyder made an unwanted advance at a charity dinner by touching her thigh and trying to coax her into a limo. The probe has since expanded to include allegations of financial improprieties against Snyder and the Commanders. Snyder and the team have denied the accusations.
Last week, ESPN reported that Snyder was lobbying the NFL to limit the release of White’s probe — something the Commanders ripped as “blatantly false.” A source said in March that Snyder had been refusing to participate in White’s probe.
In 2021, the league faced widespread criticism for not releasing a full report of Beth Wilkinson’s investigation into Washington’s workplace misconduct. The league fined Washington $10 million for the scandal.
“Once (White) completes her review, we’ll release the findings of it, as we have said for some period of time,” Miller said.
• Matthew Paras can be reached at mparas@washingtontimes.com.
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