Months after news first broke that Washington Commanders owner Dan Snyder had reached a tentative agreement to sell his busted NFL team to 76ers owner Josh Harris, the deal was finalized on Thursday. ESPN's Adam Schefter reported that the NFL owner vote to approve the sale was unanimous, and went through at a final price of $6.05 billion, making it the highest amount ever paid for a North American pro sports team. After 24 years, 27 starting quarterbacks, and two playoff wins, the Dan Snyder era is mercifully over.
Harris and Snyder agreed on a price in May, but the sale was delayed a few months as the NFL's finance committee needed Harris to tweak some of the specifics of his offer so it would comply with league guidelines. Right on the heels of the announcement of the sale, the NFL also announced the results of a 17-month investigation into workplace misconduct allegations and financial shenanigans. Independent investigator Mary Jo White found evidence of both sexual harassment and underreporting of revenues by Snyder, supporting the allegations against him. You can read the report here.
On his way out, Snyder will be paying a fine of $60 million, a little less than 1 percent of the sale price. He will leave pro football with an enormous return on his investment, but Commanders fans will now have the chance to learn what it's like to root for a normal NFL team—or at least an NFL team not owned by Dan Snyder.