Did you know that only five minutes after the announcement that Dan Snyder was going to sell, the mission to purchase the Commanders was begun?
Yes, the Josh Harris Ownership Group (HOG) couldn’t close the acquisition of the Washington Commanders until July 2023. Yet, so much hard work and perspiration went into finally purchasing the team away from Snyder.
Mark Ein, who was born in Chevy Chase, MD, and is a lifelong fan of the Redskins (now Commanders), was a guest on the “Kevin Sheehan Show” podcast Saturday.
Ein told Sheehan that he and Harris, who were childhood friends, were actually together this week, marveling that it had already been a year since the NFL finally approved the purchase on July 20, 2023.
“Most deals of this size or complexity are not easy,” began Ein. This one had some unique components, as everyone can imagine. But you have to bring a lot of people together to pay the highest price ever for a sports franchise.”
When Sheehan asked Ein if he ever thought they would be unable to finalize the purchase, Ein didn’t hesitate to say, “Oh, sure. I mean, this started five minutes after the news hit the wire.”
“Which news, Mark?” inquired Sheehan.
“The news that Dan was really going to sell…literally within five minutes of the announcement, I texted Josh and said we have got to do this. It started then (November) and closed in July, so that is how long it took.”
Ein said that throughout the process, there were “lots of moments where it looked like it was not going to happen.”
“Our view was this franchise matters almost as much as anything in the community that we grew up in and love. With people who are deeply connected and committed to the community, there was an opportunity, and really a need for that set of people to come in and take it over and build it to the franchise we loved as kids.”
Ein is absolutely correct.
The franchise needed to be rescued.
They were rescued from not only being a losing NFL team on the field but also from those running the business side of the franchise who didn’t know what they were doing.
Thank you, Mark Ein, for taking the initiative, and thank you to the Harris Ownership Group for seizing the opportunity to bring this franchise back from the depths.
