Tilman Fertita, the billionaire businessman who owns the NBA’s Houston Rockets, is making a bid for the Washington Commanders, two people with knowledge of the situation said Saturday.
Fertitta joins a group of potential buyers that includes Josh Harris, owner of the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers and NHL’s New Jersey Devils, and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
According to a person familiar with the deliberations, Fertitta has submitted a bid for the Commanders, but is not believed to be the frontrunner to buy the franchise from Daniel Snyder. The person described the sale process as “a little stagnant” and valued Fertitta’s bid at just $5.5 billion.
Another official familiar with the matter said Fertitta was interested in the Commanders and apparently visited the team’s training facility in Ashburn.
A representative for Fertitta did not respond to a request for comment Saturday night.
Ferditta is the owner and CEO of Ferditta Entertainment Inc., which owns The Rockets, a dining and hospitality company, Laundries, and the Golden Nugget Hotel and Casino. His net worth is estimated at $8.1 billion. According to Forbes. He bought the Rockets from Leslie Alexander in 2017 for $2.2 billion.
Harris visited the commander’s facility, two people familiar with the situation said this month. Harris was the co-founder of Apollo Global Management and the general partner of Crystal Palace in the English Premier League. He is a limited partner of the NFL Pittsburgh Steelers. Harris grew up in Chevy Chase and attended Field School in Northwest Washington.
With a net worth of $6.2 billion, it tried to buy the Denver Broncos last year, according to Harris-Forbes, but lost a bid to a group led by Walmart heir Rob Walton.
Bezos, owner of the Washington Post, hired an investment firm to evaluate his potential bid for Commanders, two people familiar with the situation said this week. Bezos is working with Allen & Company, a New York-based firm known for deals involving professional sports rights. It dealt with two recent sales of NFL franchises, the Carolina Panthers and Broncos. It’s unclear whether Bezos will bid on Commanders.
The Chiefs announced in November that Snyder and his wife, Tanya, the team’s co-CEO, had hired Bank of America to consider a potential franchise deal. The team did not disclose whether Snyders would sell all or part of the franchise. In December, four people familiar with the process said they thought the most likely outcome was to sell the entire team.
The bidding process is underway as the NFL conducts a second investigation into the employment of Daniel Snyder and the board, led by attorney Mary Jo White. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia is also investigating allegations of financial irregularities involving the group. The group denied any financial impropriety.