Various publications are currently engaged in a game of one-up over whether the one presumed buyer of the Washington Commanders has been blocked from making a bid.
On Friday night, the New York Post reported that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has been “benched” from bidding on the team. On Saturday, TheAthletic.com reported that Bank of America (which is handling the sale) has informed Bezos that he’s out.
TheAthletic.com also reports that Bezos has been prevented from bidding on the team “for months.”
The problem continues to be that Bezos owns the Washington Post, which curiously has been silent on whether Bezos has been blocked from buying the team. Most recently, the Washington Post reported that Bezos has hired an investment firm to evaluate a potential bid. This implies that Bezos has not been told to not bother making a bid.
Commanders owner Daniel Snyder apparently hates the Post. So even if Bezos would bid more than anyone else could, Snyder supposedly doesn’t want Bezos’s money.
It’s stupid, in my opinion. It’s petty, in my opinion. It’s quite possibly a pretext for not selling the team at all, in my opinion.
And it’s entirely in character for Snyder, in my opinion.
If Snyder won’t sell to Bezos, Snyder isn’t serious about selling. If Snyder is getting out, who cares if he hates the Post or Bezos or anyone? Snyder is cashing out.
And if it’s true that Bezos has known for months that he has no chance to buy the team, Snyder — in my opinion — was never serious about selling. He just wanted, in my opinion, to reduce some of the pressure at a time when an effort to force him out seemed to be inching toward critical mass.
The question now becomes whether other owners (like Jim Irsay of the Colts) will once again ramp up efforts to bring Snyder’s fitness to continue to be a member of Club Oligarch up for a formal vote, if they believe that Snyder’s interest in selling was just a misdirection.