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

3 – Jay-Z  (Group Purchase)

Here would be another opportunity for the NFL to have a minority owner, but Jay-Z would need to have other investors to help make an acquisition possible.  His worth is more than $1 billion and the entertainment icon would have plenty of entertainment friends to help with the purchase.  Fans would certainly be intrigued with the presence of Beyoncé (his wife) in the owner’s booth for each game.  Gawking aside, the power couple are successful owners of the Brooklyn Nets franchise of the NBA.

Jay-Z is a great success story.  He was selling CDs from his car in the mid-1990s and was hoping to land a recording contract.  Fast forwarding to today, Jay-Z is a founder of Roc Nation, Rocawear, 40/40 Club, and CEO of Project Panther Bidco.  The Shawn Carter Foundation helps minorities in furthering their education beyond the high school years at colleges and universities across the nation.  He is a personal favorite of yours truly to be the team owner.

2 – Elon Musk

Everything that Elon Musk touches seems to turn into gold.  He founded Zip2 in 1995 and sold it in 1999 to Compaq for several hundred million dollars.  He founded X.com (a payment company) in 1999 and merged it with another company to form PayPal.  eBay acquired PayPal in 2002 and Musk turned a tidy profit of $175 million.  He was just getting started.  In 2002, Musk founded SpaceX and it is now the most successful commercial business on the planet.

In 2008, Musk became the CEO of Tesla, a struggling electric automobile company, and has turned it into the most successful venture in the electric vehicle market.  The successes are too numerous to list, but you get the idea.  Elon Musk has a financial worth that is somewhere north of $200 billion.  Purchasing the Commanders and building a new stadium would amount to pocket change for him.  For now, Musk doesn’t seem interested in owning a sports franchise of any kind.  If it happens, you can read about it on Twitter.

1 – Jeff Bezos

Jeff Bezos is a self-professed sports nut, especially the NFL.  It is widely known that the founder, former CEO, and President of Amazon would love to have an NFL franchise.  There are strong rumors that he may have his sights set on the Washington Commanders.  After all, he did add the Washington Post to the companies that he owns.  Bezos already has a cozy relationship with the league through Amazon.  The Thursday night games are broadcast through Amazon Prime and the production thus far has been quite good.

Bezos also founded Blue Origin (commercial space travel), Altos Labs, and Bezos Expeditions.  His wealth varies with the ups and downs of the stock market, but his current wealth is estimated to be in the $150 billion range.  If Dan Snyder is forced to sell, will Bezos be the person who becomes the new owner?  Yours truly does believe Bezos will be the front-runner.  The former Princeton graduate could be close to his dream of owning an NFL team and most, if not all, of the owners in the league would like to see him in the fold someday.  One thing is certain – Amazon will have the naming rights to the new stadium and team merchandise will be front and center with the online retailer.

Final Thoughts

What are the chances of a sale?  Honestly, there is no way to know, but numerous reports in recent days would suggest that Dan Snyder’s days are numbered as the owner of the Commanders.

While fans have been salivating at all the news this week, they will need to be patient and let the process work.  It will take time.  Also, Dan Snyder could somehow dodge all of the latest ammo being fired his way and keep control of the team for several decades to come.  The vast majority of Commanders fans would prefer to have a new owner.  Jim Irsay launched the first attack from the ownership club and all we can do is watch the fireworks.  See you as we go along.