Comment Washington Commanders owner Daniel Snyder has hired an investment bank to “look into potential transactions” related to the franchise, the team announced Wednesday. The Commanders did not say whether Snyder and his wife Tanya Snyder, the team’s CEO, are considering selling the entire franchise or a minority stake. The group said in a statement that the Snyders have hired a division of Bank of America. “Dan and Tanya Snyder and the Washington Governors announced today that they have engaged BofA Securities to review potential transactions,” the Governors said in their statement. “The Snyders remain committed to the team, all of its employees and its countless fans in putting the best product on the field and continuing the work to set the gold standard for workplaces in the NFL.” A person familiar with NFL franchise transactions said Daniel Snyder has recently been interested in trying to sell a minority stake in the team, but did not know if that remains his intention. Two others familiar with the inner workings of the NFL said it was unclear to them what Snyder plans to do. “We are exploring all options,” a Commanders spokesman said. Snyder and family members own the entire franchise. Snyder led a group of investors that bought the team and its stadium in 1999 for $800 million from the Jack Kent Cooke estate. Forbes estimated in August that the Commanders are worth $5.6 billion. “Any potential transaction would have to be presented to the NFL Finance Committee for review and would require an affirmative vote of three-quarters of the full membership (24 of the 32 teams),” league spokesman Brian McCarthy said in a statement Wednesday. This approval is required for the sale of either a minority share or the entire group. The NFL declined further comment on the potential trade. Wednesday’s announcement comes with Snyder and the Governors under investigation by the NFL, the House Oversight and Reform Committee and the D.C. and Virginia attorneys general. Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay has said in recent weeks that he and other NFL team owners should seriously consider voting to remove Snyder from ownership of the Commanders. “I guess we’re going to get into more and more conversations about it,” Irsay said last month, speaking to reporters at an owners’ meeting in New York. “It’s a difficult situation. I think it’s worth taking him away from his owner [Commanders]. I think it’s something we need to review. We have to look at all the evidence and we have to be thorough in moving forward. But I think it’s something that needs to be taken seriously.” That day, a Commanders spokesman issued the following statement: “It is highly inappropriate, but not surprising, that Mr. Irsay chose to make public statements based on falsehoods in the media. It is unfortunate that Mr. Irsay decided to release his statement today while the investigation is ongoing and the team has not had the opportunity to formally respond to allegations. Commanders have made remarkable progress over the past two years. We are confident that when he has a chance to see the facts in this case, Mr. Irsay will conclude that there is no reason for the Snyders to consider selling the franchise. And they won’t.” Irsay expanded on his comments in a phone interview Friday: “I’m not sure how this report is going to turn out. But what has already come out is extremely disturbing and I disagree with the process. And I probably disagree that we haven’t discussed something more serious like de-ownering it. Like I said, it’s not something I’m saying we should do. I’m saying it’s something to be taken seriously.” It would require a vote of at least three-quarters of the owners to remove Snyder from ownership. Multiple owners told The Post in September that they believe serious consideration may be given to trying to oust Snyder from the league’s ownership ranks, either by persuading him to sell his franchise or voting him out. “He needs to sell,” one of those owners said at the time. “Some of us have to go to him and tell him he has to sell.” It was not immediately clear Wednesday whether any owners had urged Snyder to sell. “I think there will be movement,” the same owner said in September. “We need to get 24 votes.” The current NFL investigation is being conducted by attorney Mary Jo White. “Mary Jo White continues her criticism,” McCarthy said Wednesday. “We have no update on the timing.” The league began investigating White after Tiffany Johnston, the team’s former cheerleader and marketing manager, told a congressional panel in February that Snyder harassed her at a team dinner, put his hand on her thigh and pushed her toward his limousine. Snyder denied the accusations, calling them “spontaneous lies.” In June, The Post reported details of an employee’s claim that Snyder sexually assaulted her during a flight on his private plane in April 2009. Later that year, the team agreed to pay the employee, who fired, $1.6 million in a confidential settlement. In a 2020 court filing, Snyder called the woman’s allegations “without merit.” In April, the House committee looked into allegations of financial wrongdoing by Snyder and the group in a letter to the Federal Trade Commission. Karl A. Racine, the Democratic district attorney, and Virginia’s Republican attorney general, Jason S. Miyares, announced they would investigate. The group has denied any financial wrongdoing. The Racine office has nearly completed its investigation and plans to take further action in the case, a person familiar with the investigation said last month. “Today’s news that Dan and Tanya Snyder are exploring the sale of the Washington Governors is a good development for the team, its former and current employees and its many fans,” attorneys Lisa Banks and Debra Katz, who represent more than 40 former employees of the group. it said in a statement on Wednesday. “We’ll have to see how this plays out, but this could obviously be a big step toward healing and closure for the many brave women and men who came forward.” The NFL has not said when White’s investigation will be completed. The league said White’s report, in contrast to the findings of an earlier investigation into the team’s workplace conducted by attorney Beth Wilkinson, would be made public. The House committee is expected to release its findings in the coming weeks. Daniel Snyder participated remotely in a deposition with the committee for more than 10 hours in July. Former team president Bruce Allen testified remotely for about 10 hours after being subpoenaed in September. In March, Snyder bought out his three limited partners — Dwight Schar, Fred Smith and Robert Rothman, who collectively owned about 40 percent of the franchise — for $875 million. That transaction required his 31 co-owners to grant him a waiver to take on an additional $450 million in debt. The Post reported in November 2020 that Snyder’s limited partners had received a $900 million offer from Behdad Eghbali and José Feliciano, the billionaire co-founders of Clearlake Capital and Feliciano’s wife, Kwanza Jones. The sale was blocked, people familiar with the situation said at the time, because Snyder was trying to exercise a right of first refusal by matching the offers made to Smith and Rothman but not to the offer made to Schar. This led to a dispute over whether Snyder had the right to exercise such rights selectively. Eghbali and Feliciano were reportedly among the bidders for the Denver Broncos, who were sold by the Pat Bowlen Trust in June to a group led by Walmart heir Rob Walton for $4.65 million. This is the highest paid for an NFL franchise. The owners ratified Walton’s purchase in August. The team’s announcement Wednesday also comes as public funding negotiations for a potential new stadium for the Commanders have stalled. The state lawmaker who led efforts to lure Governors to Virginia said in June those efforts had stalled. State Senate Majority Leader Richard L. Saslaw (D-Fairfax) said at the time: “There was so much stuff out there that a lot of people are saying, ‘Saslaw, this thing has to wait.’ “ Before Wednesday, the Governors had said Snyder would not sell the team. A spokesman for the team said after Irsay’s initial public comments: “We are confident that, when he has an opportunity to see the facts in this case, Mr. Irsay will conclude that there is no reason for the Snyders to consider possibility of selling the franchise. And they won’t.” In July 2021, the NFL announced that the team had been fined $10 million, based on Wilkinson’s investigation, and that Tanya Snyder would oversee the day-to-day operations of the franchise for an unspecified period of time.
