100 Days in Washington: Josh Harris Turns the Page on Snyder Era
Several hundred fans in D.C.’s Franklin Park, there for the Washington Commanders‘ annual kickoff fest this past September, were abuzz as Josh Harris, the team’s new owner, did his best to fire them up from a stage at the center of the event. In truth, it probably wouldn’t have taken much to juice Washington’s NFL fans, given their innumerable disappointments under the tenure of previous owner Daniel Snyder. But Harris brought energy before the season opener against Arizona, saying, “Are you ready to kick some Cardinal ass?”
The fans gave that energy right back.
“Thank you, Josh!” they chanted. “Thank you, Josh!”
Washingtonians are hopeful that Harris will be the long-sought change agent for their beloved football team, arguably the only entity that unites the town. This moment is still hard to fathom for Harris, a Wall Street legend who earned a fortune as co-founder of private equity firm Apollo Global Management—wealth that allowed him to become an owner of the Philadelphia 76ers, New Jersey Devils and now, after a record $6 billion purchase, this storied NFL franchise.
“Listen, I grew up here,” Harris said. “It’s heartwarming for me. At the economic club [last month], someone who I had been a really good friend with from high school came and gave me a hug, and I’ve heard from other people I grew up with. It’s just so great to be back.”
His latest acquisition hits closer to home than any investment he has made before. Harris, a native of Chevy Chase, Md., grew up as a passionate fan of the team, living in the same neighborhood as Mark Lerner, who owns the Washington Nationals, and Mark Ein, a friend and limited partner in the Commanders. Ein says the unique opportunity to provide the DMV (shorthand for the D.C.-Maryland-Virginia region) with a team it could be proud of was a driving factor to complete the purchase, which took some innovative financing to get over the line.
“The motivation to do this 100% was about revitalizing this organization to its rightful place for all the people in our region,” said Ein, who serves as chairman of the DC Open tennis tournament. “There were hard days in this deal… [But] we felt like a high-quality group of people locally had to be the winners. If it wasn’t us, then it was going to be someone from out of town, and that wasn’t acceptable.”
Winning the bid was only the first part of Harris’ challenge. After years of on-field mediocrity, off-field scandals, courtroom litigation and Congressional inquiries under Snyder, the new ownership group had to roll out an agenda showing its willingness to serve an array of stakeholders in the team. And they had to do it fast. Not unlike a new president, Harris has attempted to use his first 100 days as owner to convince diverse constituencies—players past and present, fan groups, sponsors, the richest sports league in the world, and this being a government town, local politicians—that change has indeed come to Washington.
The First 100 Days
The first 100 days for incoming American presidents have been viewed with a level of significance since the days of Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was able to get dozens of laws passed during his first few months in office to help the nation recover from the Great Depression.
Harris isn’t shaping foreign policy or fixing an economic downturn, but he aims to reverse the negative impact of the previous administration led by Snyder. Harris understands it will be impossible to return to happier days for the franchise without the trust of the workforce. Re-establishing the relationship with players, both current and former, has been a clear priority early on. “One of the big ingredients is the team believing in themselves and that they can do this,” Harris said of early meetings with veterans and other current players. “There’s optimism in the air.”
John Riggins, NFL Hall of Famer, former Super Bowl MVP and a longtime critic of Snyder, came to the Commanders’ season opener—a noteworthy sighting after being a no-show for the last 12 years. Brian Mitchell, another franchise icon, now an analyst, regularly ripped Snyder and the franchise on local sports talk radio. Starting this season, he’s working for the Commanders as on-air talent and member of the preseason TV broadcasting team—something almost unthinkable under previous ownership.
The feedback from this delegation was apparent on alumni homecoming weekend last month, where roughly 175 legends, the most ever for the annual event, came to FedEx Field to be honored and recognized.
“They’ve welcomed a lot of legends back into the fold,” ex-Washington quarterback and Super Bowl MVP Mark Rypien said. “In the years past it wasn’t as reciprocal. … I don’t think they were as welcoming in the last ownership (group) as they want to be in this one. They want to continue the legacy here.”
Rypien says teams of the past were held accountable on the field not just by their coaches but by previous generations of players, something he feels was lost over the last couple decades. That may start to change now. With open arms, the Harris group has welcomed back alumni, including those who helped the team win three Super Bowls and endeared the franchise to the region.
“I’ve never been in a transition before,” said former star quarterback Doug Williams, who worked in various front-office roles for the past regime. “This is the first one for me, but I can say it’s been great, because you feel the passion that [Harris and Co.] have for the team, especially growing up here.”
Current players were part of the outreach, too. Despite closing the deal just before the start of training camp, Harris and members of his cabinet wasted little time trying to figure out immediate improvements to enhance the work environment for current players.
Mitch Rales, a D.C. billionaire and minority team owner, and Harris held a series of meals with players. The conversations resulted in better travel support, upgrades to the hot tubs at the team facility and the addition of a luxury tent in the B Lot at FedEx Field, where players’ families can congregate privately on gameday. The other improvements at the training grounds, including adding a new 40-second play clock to help assistant coach Eric Bieniemy’s situational offense, are just the beginning, as the ownership group plans to invest more to improve the players’ experience—and not just on the field.
Magic in Chocolate City
Los Angeles Lakers legend Magic Johnson, one of the most successful athlete investors of all time, has offered to be a mentor figure for the Commanders. He took questions during a practice last month where players asked him about everything from business tips to life in the NBA. Johnson, who has stakes in three other pro teams, is not your typical limited partner, and the team is leveraging his larger-than-life personality to boost morale not just internally but within the local black community, where he’s a hero to many.
“I know there’s a lot of minorities standing on my shoulders,” he said. “I get that, and I have broad shoulders being 6’9”, so I can handle that.”
One of Johnson’s first public appearances after the deal was at an after-school Boys and Girls Club of Greater Washington event last month, where he spoke to a couple hundred black students about education and personal values, among other things.
BGCGW CEO Gabrielle Williams says she’s noticed already how different the community outreach efforts are under Harris. And Johnson represents something bigger than Commanders football, which is making some DMV natives fans for the first time.
“The heroes and big names here are politicians,” Williams added. “We don’t have a lot of sports heroes, so to have someone like Magic around is a big deal to us.”
D.C. has the distinction of being the nation’s first predominantly black major city, and the Commanders are looking to rejuvenate their relationship with the black community as part of their broader outreach.
“This is Chocolate City,” Commanders president Jason Wright said in an interview. “There are so many black leaders across this area who are the leading the NGOs and nonprofits that meet the needs of students of all colors. So when you have someone like Magic standing with other (local) black leaders, it not only makes a difference but sends a message that there’s support for black leadership in the community.”
Feeling at Home
Outside the team training facility, the most immediate constituency is the fanbase. Harris remembers the days of a jam-packed RFK Stadium, where the noise was deafening and scoring tickets for fans of the opposing team was a tall task. He wants that to return under his watch, and so do the players.
“My job is to do everything [the players] want to make their lives easier, within reason obviously,” Harris said. “We want them to feel that home-field advantage. Our job is to rally the city and get the city to show up in force.”
The team has its eyes on a new stadium, but in the meantime, Harris is shoring up FedEx Field, and committing $40 million to upgrade the venue built in 1997 in Landover, Md.
The investment includes more premium spaces, like a trio of new themed suites and construction to flip former team executive suites into new inventory as demand from Commanders’ fans rises. Members of the business team are becoming nomads in the stadium, an adjustment they are more than happy to make.
But a large portion will be spent to fix a host of inherited maintenance problems, like leakage and plumbing issues in the restrooms. The funding also covers fire suppressant sprinkler pipe replacements inside the stadium and structural seating rebuilds.
Fans may also notice a new sound style and LED displays around the end zone, part of roughly $10 million in capital expenditures for guest-experience upgrades, with another $15 million on tap for next season. Two new scoreboards with extra room for advertising have also been installed, opening up more real estate for assets while activating the team’s sponsorship business. There are also new banners on the upper level that read “Welcome Home,” in keeping with Harris’ public-facing theme.
“I’m pretty focused on what’s going on the field or court, but on the other hand I’m better at being able to focus and host a party for 60,000 guests,” Harris said. “I have to be a good host, which is an acquired skill set I think I’ve gotten better at over the last decade.”
The Harris group hasn’t just focused on the stadium itself; it’s also tried to make getting there easier. The team negotiated with local and state authorities to close the southbound lane on I-495 on game days, which allows exiting traffic to enter the highway more seamlessly, cutting ingress and egress time by roughly 40 minutes despite thousands more fans attending games this season.
This transportation maneuver, along with increasing staff to help with pedestrian traffic and new ticket scanning technology, are some of the ways new leadership has worked to decrease wait time arriving and leaving the stadium.
“That’s the new mindset,” Wright said in a video interview. “Ownership is aligned with business leadership as well as local and state leaders surrounding this team to do what’s best for the fans. We’re seeing that right now with the state of the business.”
HBSE Ties
Former Washington coach Joe Gibbs, the architect behind three Super Bowl titles, will be a trusted confidant in Harris’ reclamation project. Not only is he an unofficial advisor to the ownership group, he’s also a business partner; Harris’ holding company and the parent company of the Sixers and Devils, Harris Blitzer Sports and Entertainment (HBSE), recently bought into NASCAR’s Joe Gibbs Racing. It’s just one of the ways HBSE will be linked to the Commanders franchise.
“If you listen to coach and listen to Josh, they’re both very strong men of faith, and they believe this was God bringing them together in some respect,” HBSE CEO Tad Brown said. “It became this incredible, sort of serendipitous relationship, that was meant to be.”
Gibbs is invited to not only attend football games at FedEx Field but also concerts, as the Harris group looks to beef up the live events scene at the venue. Backed by experience managing the Prudential Center, the Devils’ home which reportedly reeled in more than $85 million in box office gross last year, Harris wants to take advantage of his history and reputation with promoters and vendors to turn up the volume in Landover.
While not under the HBSE umbrella, the Commanders will leverage relationships and resources at HBSE to accelerate growth. This includes shared services like legal and finance. Executives from the 76ers, Devils and Commanders recently met on-site at the Prudential Center to discuss best practices and innovative ways to support each other. Executives from properties separately owned by Harris’ HBSE partner David Blitzer, including Real Salt Lake of MLS, also took part.
In hearing feedback from decision makers like Commanders GM Martin Mayhew, it’s clear that Harris wants to boost the internal analytics and scouting team. This week the team hired NFL analytics veteran Eugene Shen to be senior VP of football strategy.
The HBSE assistance isn’t just a one-off for the transition. Brown, for example, will continue to support Wright and other senior leaders of the Commanders, using the resources the pro sports empire has built over the last 15 years.
“I’m there as a resource to him,” Brown said of Wright. “I’ve been there and have been in his situation. Certainly I’m a little older and have made a lot of mistakes already. So I can give him an idea of what I’m seeing. Then he can process that and make the decisions that he needs to make.”
Sigh of Relief
Former Commanders weren’t the only people ready to return to the stadium with Snyder gone. The team says it has increased its season-ticket base by 20% and topped the NFL in new club ticket sales through the first three games of the season while ranking among the top five in overall group sales. Overall attendance is up nearly 30% year-over-year.
In addition, after being the subject of years of blaring headlines about impropriety and abuse allegations, the franchise says potential corporate partners and sponsors are now seeking to be part of the team’s next chapter.
There have been a slew of renewals with existing partners and Anheuser-Busch returned as the official beer sponsor in an important vote of confidence. And despite finalizing the sale just before training camp, the Commanders regime has managed to add 12 new sponsors within the first 100 days. They’ve also partnered with bank sponsor Northwest Federal Credit Union and the Air Force, which is in its first-ever deal with an NFL team. Harris’ group is hopeful that with a full sponsorship cycle coming up, it will find even more growth, while it leverages the potential connectivity with other partners in HBSE.
Harris has made his presence felt in the local sports landscape, as he threw out the first pitch at the Nationals game on Sept. 21 in front of his old pal, Lerner. The investor also welcomed the Nationals to a Commanders game as part of a “capital crossover” deal, which featured fan events and activations during the Oct. 5 Thursday night matchup against Chicago.
At this past summer’s DC Open, headed by Ein, the Commanders mascot was in attendance with members of the team while new limited partners entertained prospective sponsors. It’s an example of the synergies that are expected to happen more under Harris, who also knows Wizards and Capitals owner Ted Leonsis. “There’s a real sense of cooperation and community amongst the [local] sports teams and sports owners that’s really positive.” Ein said.
Next 100 days
Elected officials from D.C., Maryland and Virginia have all expressed interest in helping the Commanders find a site for its next stadium, as the departure from FedEx Field feels inevitable. Some have suggested leaving Landover for northern Virginia, while others have thought about staying on the other side of the Potomac River. Some politicians are pushing to return to the site of the franchise’s former home in the District, RFK Stadium, but the infrastructure in the area is in question—as is support from the neighboring community, elements of which have expressed a desire for more housing and parkland.
Overall, though, the change in tone from local governments as compared with the Snyder era is an early victory for Harris.
“They were never going to get a stadium as long as they were part of it,” Rypien said of Snyder and his wife, Tanya, who was the former co-CEO of the team. “This at least opens up dialogue and an opportunity to see if we can get a new arena. [FedEx Field] is pretty old. It needs a facelift for next couple years and hopefully by that time we can start digging in the dirt somewhere and figure out the next home for this organization.”
Harris has hired former Atlanta Hawks COO Thad Sheely to help lead the stadium initiative. Regardless of where the site is, Harris, who is also seeking a new arena for the 76ers, has lofty goals, which include more than doubling local revenue to the tune of roughly $400 million by 2031, according to a preliminary investor document. It remains to be seen how much Harris will lean on private equity funds to finance the new stadium, as he’ll need to toe the line of the NFL’s strict institutional investment rules.
“My knowledge of finance will be helpful in financing a stadium and was helpful in terms of putting together an incredibly high-quality group of 20 individuals that were willing to support the team purchase,” Harris said. “All my experience [as a fiduciary for cities] will help here and with the stadium.”
In the meantime, fans appear happy to be back at FedEx Field, showing up hours before kickoff.
Despite a middling record of 3-5, former Pro Bowl linebacker London Fletcher and other alumni have noticed the difference in the level of optimism. Fletcher refuses to condemn Snyder, but he admits it’s difficult to succeed when players and coaching staff have to deal with the headlines related to their boss. He acknowledges the change.
“Now the guys can just focus solely on playing a great game,” he said.
It’s not fair to judge the future based solely on a leader’s first 100 days, but it’s clear where the priorities are for Harris and his group. A former Washington coach, Vince Lombardi, once said, “Winning isn’t everything, but making the effort to win is.” Thus far, Harris’ constituents seem to believe he’s making the effort.
The native son of the DMV says he’s committed to building one of the top franchises in sports. “It’s reminding everyone who this team is,” Harris said, “and that they’re part of something bigger than themselves.”
(Washington’s record has been updated to 3-5, following Sunday’s 38-31 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.)
