Commanders sale to Josh Harris group should be an outlier for future deals

Josh Harris
Josh Harris / Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
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The pending Washington Commanders sale to Josh Harris' ownership group could become an outlier for any future franchises purchases around the NFL.

Although there are reportedly some reservations from league officials regarding the Washington Commanders' sale to the ownership group fronted by Josh Harris, one thing is pushing this agenda more than anything else. That is, of course, removing Dan Snyder's connection to the NFL once and for all.

The last year or two has been the final straw for other NFL owners regarding Snyder. His penny-pinching cut almost every corner imaginable and the workplace culture might come with further sanctions before the billionaire rides off with more than $6 billion for his troubles.

Harris and his large consortium have a far better infrastructure in place. There is an abundance of experience both in business and successfully running sports franchises, which is exactly what the Commanders need after treading water for more than two decades.

Commanders sale complications center on NFL's borrowing limit

It'll take time to make the Commanders a revered organization once again. There are also some intricacies that must be worked out in terms of financing the transaction before everything gets formal approval.

According to Mark Maske and Nicki Jbahvala from the Washington Post via SB Nation, the biggest complication stems from the level of borrowing being way more than the required $1.1 billion. This is the long-standing limit for any would-be buyer for an NFL team.

"One person with knowledge of the committee’s conversations said this week that the amount of debt in the deal is, in the committee’s view, significantly above the NFL’s $1.1 billion limit for team acquisitions. The Harris group believes its deal is in compliance with NFL ownership rules, people connected to the process have said. They say the group also believes there should be no questions about the liquidity of Harris and his investors, given their combined net worth [is] above $100 billion."

Mark Maske and Nicki Jbahvala

Just how much of a problem this will be given the net worth of Harris' group combined remains to be seen. But considering how much sports teams are going for these days, the Commanders' sale might be seen as an outlier of sorts for any future deals.

It's simple, really. The cost to buy sports teams - particularly in the NFL with all the revenue money - is only going to soar in the coming years. Not many people that $6 billion or more lying around, so the natural progression is to increase the borrowing limit.

Maske and Jbahvala added while this could be the case, the Harris group would not be granted permission to go above the NFL's current stipulations. While it makes the sale a little more complicated, everything should work itself out over time.

"Everyone wants this to work. There’s no doubt about that. But it has to comply with the rules. It has to be under the debt limit."

Unnamed source via Washington Post

For fans, they don't care much for the intricacies. It's all become pretty tiresome throughout the offseason and an obvious distraction from football matters - which is the most important thing to them.

Just get the deal done by any means necessary so we can all move on and begin looking forward to a more profitable future. Something every Commanders fan deserves after so much incompetence.

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