The majority owner of the Washington football team, Dan Snyder, has agreed to buy the shares owned by the team’s limited partners, a league spokesman said: ending a fight in the boardroom within an NFL franchise that has been embroiled in controversy on numerous fronts.
Minority owners Fred Smith, chief executive of FedEx Corp., president of Black Diamond Capital, Robert Rothman, and Dwight Schar, chairman of the board of NVR Inc., had been trying to sell their stakes in the team, by approximately 40% of the club, but instead the process resulted in a shootout between the parties.
The anonymous partners had taken Snyder to arbitration, alleging that he had violated his agreement with the shareholders, and the dispute became increasingly unpleasant over the months. After taking him to court, Snyder’s lawyers accused the minority owners of trying to force Snyder to sell the equipment and of participating in a smear campaign against him when he refused.
The sale, which was first notified by golongtd.com and has yet to be approved by the owners at an upcoming meeting, it will give Snyder and his family full control of the franchise he first bought in 1999.
A team spokeswoman declined to comment on the sale. An NFL spokesman said the league’s finance committee had approved a $ 450 million debt waiver to help ease the deal. The New York Times reported that the sale was $ 875 million.