Washington Commanders co-owner Dan Snyder has agreed to sell the NFL franchise to a group led by American investor Josh Harris in a record deal.
The deal is said to be worth around $6bn (£4.8bn), making it the world’s most expensive sports team purchase.
According to JEE News, the team is the joint eighth most valuable team in world sports and was purchased by Snyder and his wife Tanya in 1999 for $750 million.
Harris’ group includes NBA legend Magic Johnson and billionaire Mitchell Riley.
Harris is already involved with basketball’s Philadelphia 76ers in the NBA and ice hockey’s New Jersey Devils in the NHL, as well as being a minority owner of the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers and general partner of Premier League soccer club Crystal Palace.
The defending champion Chiefs will host the Lions in the NFL season opener.
Any sale of an NFL franchise requires approval from the league’s finance committee and the ratification of three-quarters of the league’s 32 club owners, which are scheduled to meet May 22-24 in Minneapolis.
“We are very pleased to have reached an agreement with Josh Harris and his impressive group of partners to sell the Commanders franchise,” Tanya and Dan Snyder said in a statement.
“We look forward to the quick completion of this transaction and will be rooting for Josh and the team for years to come.”
Harris would have to sell his shares in the Steelers if the Commanders takeover is completed due to NFL rules.
The sale of Chelsea to the Premier League side last year by US investor Todd Buhly and private equity firm Clearlake Capital was worth £4.25bn.
Snyders hired Bank of America Securities in November 2022 to consider a possible sale of the franchise.
The team’s boyhood fan, Dan Snyder, had vowed never to change its former name, the Redskins, despite long-standing criticism that it was offensive to Native Americans.
The NFL franchise retired its previous name in July 2020 before announcing it would be known as the Commanders from February 2022.
During Snyder’s tenure, the team was also investigated for having a “toxic workplace culture”, and an American report found that the team and the NFL covered up decades of sexual misconduct.
The 79-page report said businessman Dan Snyder, 58, “permitted and participated in workplace misconduct” and “used tactics to intimidate, monitor and extort victims.” I’m busy”.
