Daniel Snyder considers ‘potential transactions’ for Washington Commanders

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Washington Commanders owner Daniel Snyder has hired an investment bank to “consider potential transactions” related to the franchise, the team announced Wednesday. The Commanders did not specify whether Snyder and his wife Tanya Snyder, the team’s co-chief executive officer, are considering the sale of the entire franchise or a minority share. The team said in a statement that the Snyders have hired a division of Bank of America.

“Dan and Tanya Snyder and the Washington Commanders announced today that they have hired BofA Securities to consider potential transactions,” the Commanders said in their statement. “The Snyders remain committed to the team, all of its employees and its countless fans to putting the best product on the field and continuing the work to set the gold standard for workplaces in the NFL.”

One person familiar with NFL franchise transactions said Daniel Snyder recently had been interested in attempting to sell minority stakes in the team but did not know whether that remains his intention. Two others familiar with the NFL’s inner workings said it was unclear to them what Snyder intends to do.

“We are exploring all options,” a Commanders spokesperson said.

Snyder and family members own the entire franchise. Snyder led a group of investors that purchased 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.

In March, Snyder bought out his three limited partners for $875 million. That transaction required his 31 fellow owners to grant him a waiver to take on an additional $450 million in debt.

Wednesday’s announcement arrives with Snyder and the Commanders under investigation by the NFL, the House Committee on Oversight and Reform and the attorneys general of D.C. and Virginia.

Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay has said in recent weeks that he and fellow NFL team owners should give serious consideration to voting to remove Snyder from ownership of the Commanders.

“I assume we’re going to get into more and more discussion on that,” Irsay said last month, speaking to reporters at an owners’ meeting in New York. “It’s a difficult situation. I believe that there’s merit to remove him as owner of the [Commanders]. I think it’s something that we have to review. We have to look at all the evidence, and we have to be thorough in going forward. But I think it’s something that has to be given serious consideration to.”

Irsay said in a phone interview Friday: “I’m not sure how that report’s going to come out. But what already has come out is extremely disturbing, and I disagree with the process. And I most likely disagree that we haven’t discussed something more severe such as him being removed as owner. As I said, it’s not something that I’m saying we should do. I’m saying it’s something that has to be given serious consideration.”

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 they believe serious consideration may be given to attempting to oust Snyder from the league’s ownership ranks, either by convincing him to sell his franchise or by voting to remove him.

“He needs to sell,” one of those owners said then. “Some of us need to go to him and tell him that he needs to sell.”

It was not immediately clear Wednesday whether any owners had urged Snyder to sell.

“I think there will be a movement,” the same owner said in September. “We need to get 24 votes.”

The NFL had no immediate comment Wednesday. Its current investigation is being conducted by attorney Mary Jo White.

The NFL launched White’s investigation after Tiffani Johnston, a former cheerleader and marketing manager for the team, said at a congressional roundtable in February that Snyder harassed her at a team dinner, putting his hand on her thigh and pressing her toward his limo. Snyder denied the accusations, calling them “outright 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, whom it fired, $1.6 million in a confidential settlement. In a 2020 court filing, Snyder called the woman’s claims “meritless.”

In April, the House committee detailed allegations of financial improprieties by Snyder and the team in a letter to the Federal Trade Commission. Karl A. Racine, the District’s Democratic attorney general, and Virginia’s Republican attorney general, Jason S. Miyares, announced they would investigate. The team has denied committing any financial improprieties.

Racine’s office has nearly completed its investigation and is planning to take further action in the case, a person familiar with that investigation said last month.

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