The Dan Snyder era in the nation’s capital has come to an end. It was previously announced that a new ownership group, led by Philadelphia 76ers owner Josh Harris, would pay a little more than $6 billion to take control of the team, and on Thursday, the league’s owners formally approved the sale. The price tag is a new record for an American sports team.
Harris’ group includes Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Magic Johnson, who adds the Commanders to a roster of teams from a number of different sports in which he owns a stake. In the aftermath of the sale, Johnson sat down with NBC’s Craig Melvin to discuss, among other things, the possibility that the team could be in for yet another rebrand.
The NFL’s Washington Commanders has been sold to a group led by billionaire Josh Harris and a group that includes NBA legend @MagicJohnson. @CraigMelvin sat down for an exclusive interview with Johnson to talk about ushering in a new era for the team. pic.twitter.com/Y3NvWjU9j9
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) July 21, 2023
“I think, Craig, everything’s on the table,” Johnson said at the 3:44 mark of the above video after Melvin asked about changing the name. “Especially after this year. We’ll see where we are with the name, but I can’t say right now.”
After years of controversy revolving around the team’s old name, Washington finally ditched that amid pressure from investors and went to a placeholder name — the Washington Football Team — back in 2020. That stuck around for two seasons before the team decided to go with the Washington Commanders in 2022, but as Melvin mentioned, the name wasn’t especially warmly embraced by fans.
