Reports: Three of Dan Snyder’s partners trying to sell stakes in Redskins
The Washington Redskins may see some of their minority owners sell shares in the team.
According to Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio, Fred Smith and Dwight Scharr are trying to sell their interests in the Redskins. Fans of the team will recognize Smith’s name given that he is the CEO of FedEx — the naming rights sponsor of the team’s stadium — and recently requested that the team change its name. Evidently, Smith had been pushing for a change for “years” but made little progress until this July.
But those two weren’t the only ones that could try to sell off their shares. Robert Rothman is also trying to sell his stake in the team, as The Washington Post reported.
As Pro Football Talk noted on Twitter, that trio owns about 40 percent of the Redskins team.
Dan Snyder has three partners who own roughly 40 percent of the Washington franchise, and they all want out. All three of them.
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) July 6, 2020
This isn’t a huge surprise. It’s not exactly a secret that Redskins owner Dan Snyder can be difficult to work with, but there could be several other factors at play here including finances and the issue of a name change. No matter what, this is certainly a big deal and given that the three partners haven’t found buyers for their shares yet, this situation will be one to watch.
Basically, everything boils down to this: The longer that Snyder’s disgruntled partners have to hold onto their shares, the more turmoil there will be among Redskins ownership. That may not directly impact what is happening on the field, but an organization can only work harmoniously from the top down. If Snyder and Co. are dealing with issues up top, it could cause some disunity in other aspects of team management.
For example, Ron Rivera and Kyle Smith already handling larger roles because of the absence of a Team President. The Redskins may want to think about bringing someone on in that role soon. But if the ownership group is dealing with other issues and infighting, that could delay the process.
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Hopefully, the problem will be solved expeditiously, whether that’s through the three businessmen finding a willing buyer (eventually likely) or Snyder selling his controlling share in the team (highly unlikely, but mentioned in speculation as a possibility by Mike Florio). It’s not a major deal at the moment but the longer this drags on, the more it could impact the team.