As Jeff Bezos prepares to step down as the CEO of Amazon, one of the world’s richest people might now have his eyes set on an NFL team. Specifically, Bezos could be targeting the Washington Football Team.
Bezos, who has a net worth of $181.4 billion, has been tied to Washington before. CBS Sports’ Jason La Canfora reported in 2019 that Bezos was interested in becoming a team owner and had overwhelming support from across the league. However, for him to join the exclusive club, a team needs to be available for sale and that last happened when David Tepper bought the Carolina Panthers in 2018.
Now, amid all the drama surrounding the Washington Football Team, Bezos seems to be waiting for his moment to strike.
Front Office Sports’ A.J. Perez reported this week that Bezos remains interested in owning an NFL club and the Washington Football Team could be on his private wish list of preferred clubs.
There isn’t a more volatile team in the league. Under current owner Daniel Snyder, Washington’s NFL team has often been at the center of controversy, investigations and often finished at the bottom of the NFL standings. After years of refusing to change the team’s name, Snyder relented to public and private pressure last offseason by finally changing the team’s brand.
Of course, the club’s name and image were the least of the organizational problems in the past year. Damning allegations emerged about a toxic and sexist culture of sexual harassment in Washington, with many team executives connected to allegations of misconduct and workplace violations. As the summer of 2020 went on, even more troubling reports and witness testimonials painted a disturbing picture of how the team was run under Snyder.
As all of this unfolded, there was drama at the ownership level. Minority owners tried pushing Snyder to sell and became upset when he didn’t distribute dividend payouts last spring. When that failed, minority stakeholders Frederick Smith, Robert Rothman and Dwight Schar strongly encouraged Snyder to change the club’s name and began exploring a sale of their team shares. Right when they were on the verge of a deal, Snyder stepped in to block it.
The saga is now playing out in court, with Snyder accusing the club’s minority owners of extortion. He believes that those coming forward about the sexual misconduct they experienced while with the team did so just to smear him.
As Snyder fights with the club’s minority owners in court, a feud the NFL desperately wanted to avoid, Bezos could get involved. As Perez reports, Snyder’s defamation lawsuit was originally filed against MEA WorldWide and Bezos’ attorney is mentioned.
It certainly isn’t lost on Snyder that the series of stories alleging a toxic culture within his organization were first reported by The Washington Post. In 2013, Bezos bought WaPo for $250 million.
Snyder has no plans to give this team up willingly and, despite the troubling issues, there isn’t remotely enough for the NFL to step in and force a sale. So, while the remaining NFL owners would love to have Bezos’ influence and money, they’ll likely be stuck with Snyder for quite some time.
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