Commanders' success is 'killing' ex-owner Dan Snyder

Sat Jan 25 12:37pm ET
Field Level Media

Growing up in Maryland, Dan Snyder loved the Washington NFL team. His passion for the club only grew when his father scraped together the cash to buy tickets to take his young son to a game.

That's according to an ESPN report on Saturday, which chronicles the life of Snyder since he was forced by his fellow NFL owners to sell his beloved Commanders.

Since that sale was completed before the 2023 NFL season, Snyder and his wife have abandoned their life on the East Coast, moving to London. They are divesting themselves of their megamansion properties in the D.C. area, donating one to charity and trying to sell another, in favor of living on their yacht or in a hotel as they await renovations being done on their future home in London.

The Commanders, now owned by a group put together by Josh Harris and his Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, will play Sunday in the NFC Championship Game against the Philadelphia Eagles, seeking their first Super Bowl berth since after the 1991 season -- a game Washington never reached under Snyder's stewardship.

It's a good bet Snyder won't be watching rookie sensation Jayden Daniels and the Commanders from across the pond.

"He f---ing hates it," ESPN reported a Snyder colleague saying of the Commanders' success under a new off-field and on-field regime.

Snyder sold the team for a record $6.05 billion, minus a $60 million fine assessed by the NFL for a variety of improprieties that included instigating sexual harassment, running a toxic workplace and withholding revenue from the league.

Now 60, Snyder bought the team in 1999 for $800 million. He and his representatives declined to speak to ESPN for the story.

In the end of his regime, he was forced by fellow owners to list the team for sale, and he thought the $6 billion pricetag he attached would be out of reach for prospective buyers. Then, Harris showed up, and he and his partners were able to piece together the money.

But he tried to get a reprieve and cancel the deal at the last hour before its closing on July 20, 2023. Per ESPN, Snyder refused to hand over his bank account number for a transfer of funds to complete the sale before he finally relented. His confidantes until the end included Super Bowl-winning coach Joe Gibbs, a longtime ally, who finally convinced Snyder that letting the sale go through was for the good of the team and the fans.

"We don't get the Commanders if not for Joe Gibbs," said Tad Brown, the CEO of the Harris group, per ESPN.

Snyder's business dealings with the Commanders remain under investigation in the United States. Former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue recently called Snyder "the worst owner in the history of the National Football League," per ESPN.

Snyder has registered an investment firm in England and is conducting business from there. Rumors reportedly persist that he is looking to buy an English Premier League team -- something one ESPN source shot down.

"He isn't a fan of other sports," the source said. "He's a fan of the [Commanders]. That was the biggest thing."

Another source said Snyder still his "in denial" about that everything that led up to his departure from the NFL ownership ranks.

"Sadness -- for himself," the source said of Snyder's attitude. "It's killing him. ... It's devastating for him."

Commanders' success is 'killing' ex-owner Dan Snyder

The Paur Report