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What’s next after Commanders sale agreement? | You Pod To Win The Game

Yahoo Sports senior NFL reporters Charles Robinson and Jori Epstein discuss the approval process of the Washington Commanders transaction and the impact of the investigation into current owner Dan Snyder. Hear the full conversation on “You Pod To Win The Game” - and subscribe on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever you get your podcasts.

Video transcript

[MUSIC PLAYING]

CHARLES ROBINSON: Beyond the sale happening, I just want to know-- how are they going to handle the stadium? If we get elements of ownership sitting up on a podium, I want to know-- stadium? What are your plans at quarterback? How do you plan on shaping the future of this team, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera? Could you potentially drop Commanders and take it back to Washington Football Team? Because I think that was actually a better brand than Commanders is right now.

Just very curious to see what the broad strokes are and the vision, and I will gladly never have to think about Dan Snyder again. Hopefully, the rest-- the report will drop, obviously, what happened in Washington. and it will be a completely ridiculous development because the league will have dragged their feet as long as they possibly could. And I'm sure there will still be bits and pieces of that report that don't make it into the public, and it'll be another black eye in the NFL. And they'll move on like they always do, but at the very least, we will move on without Dan Snyder.

JORI EPSTEIN: So this dropped on Friday, for people who weren't following along, that the Snyders and the bidding group, led by Josh Harris, had agreed to the terms of the purchase. I talked to some league sources on Friday about this. And at first, I was like, OK, we're 10 days till the next league meeting. All of the owners will be there. They need to have the team owners all in the same place so that they can vote-- 24 of 32 of owners have to approve this. So I was like, this seems perfect. You've got 10 days. You get it in.

CHARLES ROBINSON: But it's never. It's never perfect. [LAUGHS]

JORI EPSTEIN: Yeah, you get what you need done, and then you get the vote done, and we're ready to go. My league sources suggest that's not going to happen.

CHARLES ROBINSON: Good.

JORI EPSTEIN: I would be extremely surprised if, at that league meeting in Minnesota, which we will be on the ground for-- I'd be surprised if it happens because here's the deal. You look at it and you're like, oh, purchase agreement. But there's so much jargon here that kind of complicates what we actually just did.

First, it's like they have a price point. Then it's like-- they agreed to the terms, which-- one big holdup was what was going to happen if Dan Snyder gets in trouble? Can he be responsible for it? And now, before you go to the team ownership vote, you have the NFL Finance Committee reviewing the transaction details, and they have to approve it before the owners approve the sale more broadly.

So if I had to guess, I think that the Finance Committee has that process happening over the next 10 days and beyond. And then they actually-- I wouldn't be surprised if they convene a special meeting or whatever they would call it in the coming months because I do expect the sale to go through. I do expect it in the coming months. I do not expect it next week, at the league meetings in Minneapolis.

And honestly, that's OK I think that what will be interesting to me is-- when, relative to the sale, do they drop the Mary Jo White report, which is the report of everything that's been going on in terms of sexual harassment and workplace misconduct in Washington? Is that something that they'd rather drop now, so that when the sale is voted on it's like it's done? Is it something that-- there could be an agenda amongst someone in the league of-- if you really want to make sure that you have the 24 votes [INAUDIBLE], then [? 21, ?] [? 22, ?] you're like, reminder, this guy is not good for the league? Or is it something on the other hand, that you want to get the guy out of there before it drops so that it feels like less newsworthy?

So that'll be interesting. And we will ask Roger Goodell next week, at the meeting, as he's been asked at every meeting recently-- hey, when is this coming? And Roger will say, we don't want to rush Mary Jo White. She is doing it at her own timeline. But that relative timeline will be interesting to me.