6 candidates who can replace Dan Snyder as owner of the Commanders

6 – Byron Allen (Group Purchase)

Media mogul Byron Allen began his career in the entertainment world as a standup comedian, but his business savvy over the years has made him a very wealthy man.  As the chairman and CEO of Entertainment Studios, Allen has built a media empire that includes TheGrio, Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures, The Weather Channel, Allen Media Broadcasting (owner of multiple television stations), Diamond Sports Group (Bally Sports), Freestyle Releasing, Entertainment Studios Networks, and operating the Diamond Sports Group (Bally Sports).

Earlier this year, Allen made a bid to buy the Denver Broncos franchise, but his efforts fell short.  Allen is known to want an NFL franchise, but with his media empire headquartered in California, it is unknown if he would want an NFL team based on the east coast.  The league has no minority owners, but that would certainly change if Allen could make the purchase.  He will need an ownership group to partner with – Allen’s wealth is just under $1 billion and that could present some concern with the NFL ownership group.

5 – The Mars Family

If you like candy, then this is the ownership group that would have an obvious appeal.  Mars, Inc. produces the M&Ms, Snickers, Three Musketeers, and Twix candies.  The world’s leader in candy production makes a lot of money and all of it goes to the Mars family.  Yes, they are not a publicly traded organization.

Mars, Inc. is headquartered in MacLean, Virginia and having a local company’s family as the team owners would be a huge bonus.  They can easily afford to build a new stadium and we featured Mars (M&Ms brand) as our number one stadium sponsor of the future.  Will it happen?  We do know that M&Ms sponsored NASCAR driver Kyle Busch and Joe Gibbs Racing for fifteen years (sponsorship ends early next month).  Perhaps they would like to enter another sport.

4 – Steve Ballmer

In 1975, a small company was created in Albuquerque, New Mexico by a couple of young computer savants – Bill Gates and Paul Allen.  They soon moved the successful startup to the Seattle area and Microsoft was getting ready to dominate the PC world.  In 1980, a business manager was hired and he was a computer guru as well.  Steve Ballmer would help take Microsoft to new heights in the 1980s and beyond.

Ballmer was CEO of Microsoft from 2000–2014 and following his retirement, the Michigan native purchased the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team of the NBA.  No one within the Clippers organization is allowed to have Apple products on the premises – it’s all Microsoft.  It is well known that Ballmer would like to own an NFL franchise and with a worth of about $100 billion (across all assets), money is not an issue.  Would Ballmer be comfortable owning two teams – one on the west coast and the other on the east coast?  Keep an eye on Ballmer if any NFL team becomes available.  His wife’s maiden name is Snyder and she is a tall, willowy blonde – hmmmm.