The Kevin Sheehan Show - Signed Deal!

Episode Date: May 13, 2023

Kevin on the news that came yesterday that Dan Snyder and Josh Harris have a signed deal. The only thing between Dan being gone for good and Josh Harris taking over is NFL approval which seems very likely. Kevin's thoughts on the past, the present, and what's next all included in today's show.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it. But you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Cheehan Show. Here's Kevin. A special podcast today on the news that came yesterday that the sale of the team from the Snyders to the Josh Harris Group has been signed and agreed to. Let me do my best to describe where we are at this point. Because yesterday was like the second time in the last 30 days or so.

it seemed like the day, as in it's over. But it's not exactly over. It's almost over. I know that this process for many of you has been tiring. This from Jesse yesterday on Twitter, I saved this one. And you can tweet me at Kevin Sheen, D.C. Or follow me at Kevin Sheen, D.C. Is this really it?

Kev, if it isn't, don't waste your time talking about it on your show. Let's just wait for the owner to get the keys to the building. and then it will be real. I do understand that sentiment, because I felt a little bit of that myself in recent weeks. But it's kind of the way it goes. You know, it's a process. When you're buying something this big and you're about to become just one of 32,

there's a lot to do. You know, it's like when you buy a house, not exactly in terms of the price, but, you know, you get that call from the realtor. And you and your wife or your significant other are very excited. Hey, they accepted our offer. But you still have an inspection. You've got to get your financing in place. The closing isn't today. It's not tomorrow. It's 30 days from now. And then, by the way, you've got to get a rent back on the place that you've just sold.

So there's lots of moving parts. But yeah, like you, Jesse, I'm ready for this to end as well. I can't tell you how many conversations I've had with people involved in or very close to the deal over the last few months, several months actually. Those people, and there have been a half dozen minimum that I've had conversations with, they are ready for this to be over. And remember my prediction of sooner rather than later? You know, for, I don't know, three to four months now I've been saying it's going to be Josh Harris, it's going to be for something close to $6 billion, and it's going to happen sooner rather than later.

Well, the sooner rather than later came from the people that actually were in the know, and they're ready for this to come to an end as well. But yeah, it became more of the later than the sooner. That's for sure. And we've still got, you know, a yard or two left. But it does seem like we're entering kind of the formality stage. But let me get to that. I mean, yesterday was different.

You know, yesterday felt different. And the reason for that is that. The news actually came from the people involved, the Snyders and from Josh Harris. You know, we had this press release from Dan and Tanya Snyder. Quote, we are very pleased to have reached an agreement for the sale of the commanders' franchise with Josh Harris, an area native and his impressive group of partners. We look forward to the prompt completion of this transaction and to rooting for Josh and the team in the coming years, closed questions. quote, Josh Harris put out a press statement.

Quote, on behalf of our entire ownership group, I want to express how excited we are to be considered by the NFL to be the next owners of the Washington commanders and how committed we are to delivering a championship caliber franchise for this city and its fan base. Growing up in Chevy Chase, I experienced firsthand the excitement around the team, including its three Super Bowl victories, and long-term winning culture, closed quote.

Yes, I did pick up on, for all of you that tweeted me about this, I did pick up on the fact that in Josh Harris's statement, he mentioned how excited we are to be considered by the NFL to be the next owners of the Washington commanders. If there was, some of you believe, if there was a desire to look at perhaps changing the name of the team, maybe he would have said, I want to express how excited we are to be considered by the NFL

to be the next owners of an NFL franchise in Washington. I don't know, that would have been kind of telling as well. Let's just sit back and wait and see on that one. Magic Johnson, who's a part of the bid, he put out the following tweet. I could not be more excited to be a partner in the, the proposed new ownership group for the Washington commanders. Josh Harris has assembled an amazing group who share a commitment to not only doing great

things on the field, but to making a real impact in the DMV community. I'm so excited to get to work on executing our vision for the commanders and our loyal fan base exclamation point. Mark Eyn, who is a part of this deal. Most of you know who Mark is, for those of you who don't. He's a local, you know, venture capitalist. He's the owner of the D.C. City Open tennis tournament. He owns the Washington Castles.

Hell of a tennis player, too. A very good tennis player. He put out a statement, quote, it was a tweet, quote, Can't wait to help make the team as beloved throughout our DMV community as it was when I had my best childhood memories going to games with my dad as a little boy, closed quote. Joe Gibbs put out a statement yesterday. I've had the opportunity to get to know Josh Harris and the leadership team during this process and fully support his efforts to lead the new ownership group of the commanders.

The NFL has grown a great deal since my time as a coach in this league, but what hasn't changed is my belief that with great leadership from the top, the drive to win on the field and a commitment to culture, championship team, teams are created. Josh and his team share these values, and I am committed to doing what I can to reconnect this great franchise to the community, fan base, and alumni. So yeah, yesterday was a huge leap towards, you know, the end zone on this thing. Anyway, here's the exact place the deal resides in right now. Let me try to explain this as simply as I can. So what happened yesterday is that Josh Harris and Dan Snyder signed the purchase agreement. All right? The Snyders and the

Josh Harris group now have a formal, fully executed purchase agreement. What they had before was an agreement that was non-exclusive and unsigned. What they have now is a fully signed purchase agreement. But there's one more step, and that last step is that the NFL has to approve Josh Harris as the new owner. And that will happen in two phases. Phase one is the NFL's eight-member finance committee has to approve the deal. And once they approve the deal, then the owners get the actual approval of the deal and then vote on it. And if they get three quarters of votes saying yes, Josh Harris is officially the new owner in Washington.

So again, Snyder and Harris, that part is over. What's left is in the league's court right now, and that is for them to approve the deal. Now, the Washington Post had some interesting reporting on this last night, Mark Maskey and Nikki Javala. They reported that there's an exclusivity window of time to get this deal approved. They did not mention how much time that window covers.

They also reported that the deal requires that the Harris Group pay what's called a breakup fee if the deal isn't approved by a certain date. And again, that date is not mentioned in the post story. But right now, I think it's a formality. but remember the NFL's finance committee met earlier this week in New York and the reporting was that they had more questions about the structure of the deal than answers. So we think that the NFL's eight-member finance committee will approve the deal and send it to the owners. It seems like a formality. But the last reporting we had on the finance committee was that, you know, there were some questions about

the structure of the deal. But it seems to me like this has gotten to a place where the expectation is. And certainly the desire is for Snyder to be gone and the new owner Josh Harris to take over. Now, as far as the timeline on this thing, I won't use sooner rather than later, I promise. But I did talk to somebody who told me that they expect the finance committee that their next step, in addition to approving the deal, is to update the owners on where they are in the approval of the deal. And that won't happen until May 22nd, May 23rd, the next owner's meetings in Minneapolis. Now, whether the owners decide to vote then, if the finance committee has approved it, this person was unsure of.

So that's kind of where we are right now. that's not a lot of information on the timeline. I guess best case would be the finance committee over the next few days, they approve the structure of the Harris deal. And on May 22nd and May 23rd, the update is owners, we've approved it, you can vote on it. And then the owners vote on it then. If that's not what happens and they are just updating them on the process, or even if they update them on we give it full approval,

the owners may not choose to vote on it if it's not on the agenda going into May 22nd, May 23rd in Minneapolis. But it does kind of feel to me, like barring the absolute unforeseen, it's over. You know, Josh Harris is going to be the new owner of the team, and Dan Snyder will finally be gone. So let me get to a few things that I've been thinking about since yesterday. First is, and I say this with all due respect to Josh Harris and all of his co-investors slash limited partners, this isn't a story right now about them. It will eventually be about them, but not now. This is a Dan is gone story right now. You know, I can't speak for all of you, but I do have a sense of what many of you believe and think when it comes to this.

You know, whether it was Harris or Bezos or Apostolopolis or Tilman Fertita, it didn't really matter. Dan leaving is what matters. You know, before we heard the news last November that the Snyders had retained Bank of America to explore a sale, we were still living in the world where Dan Snyder was still capable of chasing away even the last of a dying fan base. You know, he still had his hands on the steering wheel and was continuing to ram the car. into walls over and over again. Anybody could have purchased this team six months ago or a year ago, and we would have been fine with him, her, or them,

because it wouldn't be Dan anymore. It wouldn't be Dan owning the team. Dan is gone, is the story here. And that's not to say that we shouldn't be appreciative of Josh Harris and what he's done, because the truth is he was one of the only people willing and capable of pulling this off. You know, this team did not have a long line of suitors. That was a surprise for me when we got into this thing a few months ago or six months ago now, that ultimately just a few were interested and capable of paying a record price for this North American sports franchise.

You know, it may have been different if the league's rules on who can buy a team were less restrictive, but for now, no private equity, no foreign money. So we're left with a smaller group that had the ability to do this. And for many of them, when they got their eyes on the financials and saw just how much Snyder had run the team into the ground, they had no interest. Not for $6 billion. I mentioned this before, but I talked to somebody early on in the process who saw the book, saw the prospectus, and said this thing wasn't anywhere. worth what Snyder wanted for it. Revenues were down 25% plus in the last five years. The customers were all gone or most of them were gone. They need a new stadium. And then on top of that,

Snyder wanted a record price. But Josh Harris and his group, they wanted it. And I'm sure there were some reservations about, you know, things like valuation, et cetera. But we should be thankful for Josh Harris and all of his limited partners. We didn't know six months ago that this would happen for sure. We had no idea who it would be, but now we do. We know who it is. It's Josh Harris, and it wasn't easy for him. So thank you, Josh Harris, Mitchell Rails, Magic Johnson, Mark Ein, all of the limited partners in the deal.

The huge financial commitment that they've made from my standpoint is very much appreciated. But again, for now, this is about Dan being gone. That's the story. You know, 24 years ago when Dan Snyder took control of the team, we all referred to this as our team. You know, we, us, and no, most of us didn't play for the team. And for those of you who don't like when fans say things like we and us, I don't care.

You know, I've always felt that, you know, when you're a fan and you're invested, we, us is fine. I mean, I think the teams and the players that play on the teams should be thrilled that customers, that fans think of the team as theirs. Dan never saw it that way, though. It was his team, not ours. And he did business that way. If you were a fan of the team, if you were a business partner of the team, if you were an employee of the team, you were made to feel like you should be on your knees grateful that he was giving you the opportunity to be a part of what he owned. You were the lucky one, not him. He never viewed any of us as the customer. We were the mark. We were the target. He saw dollar signs when he looked at us. And because we were

so devoted to the team, we were easy to take advantage of. You know, the product, his product, It didn't have to be good as long as the memories of it being good made us write another check for tickets or plop down another credit card for a jersey. It was a total con, basically. But it did take us a while to figure it out. You know, we were slow to the punch, but most of us got there eventually. Remember that narrative during the early years that, you know, all he wants to do is win. you know, he'll spend anything, do anything to win.

That was bullshit. He just wanted to milk this ATM of a fan base. I mean, he merchandised every nook and cranny. Every nook and cranny of the team, every nook and cranny of the stadium, you know, every nook and cranny of the nostalgia associated with the team. He viewed everything from the prism of making money. winning wasn't necessary. Not that he didn't want to win, but it wasn't necessary because he had millions of worshippers in the congregation.

And all he had to do was pass the hat. But, you know, eventually, like in most businesses, the product actually matters. You know, the congregation started to sniff the scam. The losing was one thing. I mean, that was bad enough. but it was the way they behaved that became an issue for a lot of us. You know, before we got here, remember, we had like 25 to 30 plus years of good, of smart, classy. And then in the summer of 1999, basically the Griswold showed up.

You know, rude, crass, mindless, and then the kicker, arrogant. Like, the losing was bad enough. And, you know, on occasion, you can be a lovable loser, but never with this group, never with this owner. They were the worst combination, as I've said before, in a business. Arrogant and dense. You know, mistakes after mistakes were made, but the arrogance always got in the way of learning from the mistakes because they weren't the fault of themselves. Like the narcissism meant it was never his fault. And so the cycle was on full repeat.

You know, it was Norse fault. Then it was Marty's fault. Then it was Spurrier's fault. Then it was, you know, Jim Zorn's fault. Well, maybe some of that was Zorn's fault. It was Vinny's fault. It was Mike's fault. It was Jay's fault.

It was Bruce's fault. You know, the post screwed him. It was their fault. Congress screwed him. It was their fault. Beth Wilkinson and Mary Joe White were out to get him. his lack of self-awareness and impulsivity made things so much worse for him like nobody hit himself in the face more than this guy did the bruce allen john gruden emails are actually what got congress involved which led to tiffany johnston jason jason fredman and eventually you know the mary joe white investigation

those emails are actually the root cause of where, you know, we are now, where he is now. The Beth Wilkinson investigation and the results of it had started to die down. And then we had the Gruden Allen emails. You know, maybe we'll know one day for sure if in one of his, you know, small moments he was the one or somebody close to him were part of the actual leaking of the emails with the intent on trying. trying to embarrass and bury, you know, his once running buddy, Bruce, who threatened, by the way, remember he threatened not to pay his final compensation until Bruce sent like this post facto congratulations on the hiring of Ron Rivera? Remember that one? God, how petty and small. But if he or someone close to him leaked those emails, I mean, that was like literally taking a two by four,

holding it in his own hand and smashing himself in the head over and over again with it. That got everything going again. If someone told him at the time, hey, be careful. Think a few steps ahead. This could go badly for you. He ignored them. I'm sure he did. Private investigators, intimidating former employees.

He was his own punching bag. On that Wilkinson report, remember, if he had just taken a real punishment when the report came out, I remember saying this on that June day, now two years ago, basically, when, you know, the league had a very terse statement, you know, and called the workplace toxic and said that, you know, this was a bad situation here. And then Dan essentially had his lawyers calling people like Tommy to say,

hey, we want you to know that Dan wasn't fined, the team was. And please don't write or say that he was suspended. he wasn't. Like if he had, and I said it at the time, if he had any self-awareness, he would have been begging to be suspended, begging to be fined, begging to have real teeth put to the Wilkinson punishment. But instead, he told everyone, not my fault. And so, you know, the dogs kind of kept on his trail. He was far from a chess player, that is for sure. I mean, he never saw more than a step ahead. Even football-wise, you know, teams and agents lined up over the years to dupe him and his staff. In the same way, by the way, he duped us for many years. Sometimes the easiest person to sell is a salesman.

But, you know, as Tommy has said over the last couple of years anyway, the emails that led to the House Oversight Investigation, if, you know, if it wasn't that, it would have been something else. Tommy's line is, you know, was the passage of time has never been a good thing for Dan Snyder. And it's true. It's still amazing to me what he pulled off. You know, one of the greatest accomplishments of his reign is that he ruined something that seemed unruinable. Like he chased away a top five fan base in all of sports. it was impossible to do. I know I've said this ad nauseum over the last five, six, seven years,

but what he pulled off should be a case study at Wharton at Harvard Business School, titled something like what not to do when you buy a sports team. It's one of his greatest accomplishments because it was so impossible to pull off. 24 years ago, are you kidding me? There were millions of Washington Redskins fans in this town, and everywhere, fervent, ardent, passionate fans. Now the number is basically a third of what it was when he acquired the team. You know, attendance from first to last, local TV ratings from first to near last.

It's still amazing that people like me who were so emotionally tied to something in a very outsized way have become apathetic. I would have never guessed that that was capable, that that was possible, that I was capable of that. You know, the last five to six years has really been where we've seen the acceleration of the erosion of the fan base. You know, the whittling away of this fan base was a slower trickle from like 2000 to 2017. But it's been in overdrive sense. There are still some stragglers, I understand. trust me, the organization understands that too.

This group does, especially the group that was here before, they showered themselves with these people, the 15 to 20,000 fans that still go to games. They decided, you know, for their own reasons, to ignore the dysfunction and to stay loyal, I guess to the past, bless their hearts. I mean, for the organization, they still saw these people as dollar signs. but that group has gotten smaller and smaller in recent years,

just like Dan, of course. You know, I know he made a ton of money, $800 million he paid for it in 1999, selling it for $6 billion dollars 24 years later. But this was not the ending he desired. He wanted this team. He wanted the team to stay in the family, eventually going to his kids.

Thankfully, he won't get that chance. he certainly didn't earn it. All right, a few thoughts on what's next after these messages from a few of our sponsors. So now we're on the verge of a new beginning, the Josh Harris era. But the damage of the Dan Snyder era is real. The damage done is legit.

And recovering from it is easier said than done. I think it's going to be really interesting. to watch Josh Harris in his group and how they go about trying to reacquire the customer base. By the way, also how they go about acquiring new customers, you know, younger customers who weren't fans. I had somebody tell me, and I remember sharing this with all of you, a few months ago, it was somebody that had seen the actual prospectus on the sale. And they said, man, this is a completely different animal than what the Walton Penner group got in Denver. And speaking about the Broncos sale, this is not the same kind of a purchase.

The Broncos have a brand. They've got a fan base. This, you know, purchase doesn't include a brand, and its fan base is a fraction of what it once was. So I think it's going to be really interesting to see what that plan is. But to me, there are some obvious things, and I think obvious to all of you as well, things that would be on the immediate to-do list. First of all, you've got to get this thing heading in the right direction from a football perspective. Because winning matters a lot and more than anything else.

And whether Josh Harris is able to find a lead football person or needs help to find that person. Because remember, Dan went out and hired all these people and he was terrible at identifying people. And then, by the way, empowering them. But whether he requires someone to help him find the GM or the head of football operations, because that's what I'm talking about here, or he hires that person himself. But find that person. Give them the autonomy to build the football team the way he sees fit. That means his staff.

That means the head coach, the players, the culture, everything associated with football. I want that person, I want a normal organization. where that person and the head coach, the GM and the head coach, end up being the two people in the organization that we all know. And everybody outside of the organization and other markets, they know these people. A normal functional organization where, you know, the GM and the head coach are the people you can name. You know, most fans can't name the owners and certainly most fans can't name the head of business operations or the president, the team president that's that oversees the business operations. Most fans could not name their VP of sales

or their PR group or their head of business ops for all the tea in China. Get the guy who we start talking about, the GM. And then once we get through this sale process and the head of football, the GM, is in the building. At that point, for me anyway, I don't want to hear or see. Josh Harris or Mitchell Rails or Jason Wright or his equivalent

until they're hoisting the Lombardi trophy on a stage at the Super Bowl. Hire a real GM and get the hell out of the way. Josh Harris has run sports teams. That's a positive. I'm sure he's already down that path and has someone in mind, I hope. If he needs help, I would bet the league would be willing to offer. they want this market revived so badly. They want it to succeed.

You know, this market is viewed as, I mean, it's laughable to say this, but this market is viewed as a sleeping giant. You know, it's incredible to say that. When at one time, it was the biggest, most awake giant in the league. Hire the GM. Get the name and the associated branding correct. this is important too. I don't want to debate this with those of you who think that this is way down the list.

I'm not suggesting that you don't have the right to your opinion, but it's how many of us feel. You're not going to change it with, how can you even say something like that's important? It's all about winning and getting the stadium. I typically think, and I know it's not a total universal here across the board, But I typically think that the people who say, you know, enough about the name already. Just stick with this thing. It's fine. They're either not lifelong fans.

They're either kind of new to the scene. Or they're new to determining who their favorite football team is. I'm not saying everybody is that way. But there's a large group of the departed fan base that this is very important to. A new stadium is obviously important, and obviously the best result would be in D.C. But there's more than just a GM getting the name and branding right, a new stadium in D.C. They've got to get into the community. They've got to make people believe that this is their team again.

We've been living in the environment of it being his team and watching him ruin it and him not even think of it as our team. they've got to make people believe that this is our team again. Joe Gibbs said something in his quote, and I read it earlier. Quote, he wants to, he said, I'm committed to doing what I can do to reconnect this great franchise to the community fan base and alumni. He knows the massive disconnect from the fan base,

you know, the one that he coached for. Look, I hope he's a part of this, but I don't need him to be a part of this. I got to the point where the trotting coach Joe out by Dan, every time Dan got in a little bit of trouble or the team was struggling, which was most of the time, you know, it just got old. It was a move that never really worked in part,

not because of Coach Joe, but because standing next to Coach Joe was Dan. But if Joe can help and he really wants to help, let him. From Neil, not Neil and Rockville, but another Neil, via an email. Kevin, please give me your top 10 list of things you want in the new owner and tell me if Josh Harris is the right guy. I have no idea if Josh Harris is the right guy.

I just know he's not Dan. That's kind of where we are in the here and now. But I will read you my top 10 list of things that I want my new owner. I think I put, I did this, I don't know, six months ago after the Bank of America announcement. So here it is. Top 10 list of things I want in my new owner. Number one, I want an owner whose number one goal is winning the Super Bowl. I want the brand of the organization to be winning Super Bowls.

I don't want the brand of the organization to be what Will Misselbrook said he wanted it to be. He was the chief marketing officer. He was, for those of you who don't know, very involved in coming up with the new name and all of the associated branding. He's no longer in the organization. It was a hit and run job. He was quoted as saying about the team name, The Commanders. Commanders is more than just a football team.

If your team name is an animal, you are kind of restricted. The name commanders allowed us to go into a much bigger space, media, food, fashion, pop culture, and music. I want an owner whose number one goal is winning Super Bowl. and who wants the brand of the organization to be winning Super Bowls. And if he's in a meeting and a Will Misselbrook says, we're more than just a football team. We got to focus on all of these. Look, I understand that that's part of today's business.

I remember Jason Wright's sort of edict, build a business that's losing resilient. That's a hell of an edict when you get hired. It's pretty hard to do. But some apparently are doing it. Not for me, though. I think winning takes care of all of the other stuff. If you're winning Super Bowls, plural,

the media, the food, the fashion, the pop culture, and the music will follow. Number one, I want an owner whose number one goal is winning a Super Bowl and who wants the brand of the organization to be winning Super Bowls. Number two, I want an owner that hires a lead football person, so this is the GM thing. and I want him to let that person make all of the football decisions. Number three, I want an owner who gives the football people, yeah, so number two is, I'm sorry, I want an owner that hires a lead football person, and I want my owner to let that person

hire all of the other football people, including the head coach. And then three is, I want an owner who gives the football people total autonomy on football things and isn't meddlesome. Number four, I want an owner who can communicate, negotiate, and get a deal for a new stadium at the RFK site in DC. Number five, I want an owner that does a do-over on the name and brand. Number six, I want an owner that doesn't want to be the face of the franchise. And I mentioned when I wrote this, Dan wasn't the face of the franchise.

You know, he turned into a recluse. But for those first 10 years, he wanted to be a star. And more importantly, he wanted to hang out with stars. I want an owner that doesn't care if he's noticed. or not. Number seven, I want an owner who doesn't want to be on the sidelines during games. That just bothers me. Number eight, I want an owner who is intelligent, yes, but also smart. Because I think what we had for 24 years was someone who was innately intelligent, but did a lot of dumb things. Number nine, I want an owner who treats customers like their customers. We certainly didn't have that for the last 24 years.

And number 10, and this was something I just said moments ago, I won an owner that when he steps to the podium to accept the Lombardi trophy, it's the first time we've seen that person since training camp. That was my top 10 list. All right, what about us? How should we react? More on that right after a few more messages from our sponsors. So what's our next move?

I'm not going to speak for all of you. I'll speak for myself here. I'm going to start with this. I'm going to sit back, give them room, give them time. You know, at some point over the next few years, we'll start to get a sense of what kind of owner Josh Harris and what kind of group Josh Harris's group is. We're going to find out if they're good people with good intentions, trying to do good deeds. Wasn't that the Freddie Mercury Queen movie where his father says, you know, good thoughts, good intentions, good deeds. I think it went something like that.

I understand this, I think, intellectually going into it and emotionally, that there's zero chance that it can be worse or even as close to bad as it's been. But at the same time, there are no guarantees that Super Bowls are in our near future either. Look, you know, there are well-run franchises that, you know, aren't competing for Super Bowls every year. It would be nice really just to have a functional organization where we don't have to suspend reality anymore in terms of our hopes about the team. We don't have to suspend the reality of as long as Dan's here, there's no chance of winning. It would be great if we realized pretty quickly that it's a functional organization and they've got a chance. they've got a chance to win.

I'm so interested, you know, in the short term to see what the response will be, beyond just kind of the happiness that Dan is gone. I want to see what tickets sales, what happens with ticket sales. Will they increase? Will they soar in the short term? You know, those that were in already, they're not going anywhere. I mean, if they didn't leave during the Snyder era, they're not leaving now. Those that have left, I think some will automatically,

be back in now that Snyder is gone. Some will need to be, you know, wooed a bit with some winning and some really good moves and good hires and things like that, good, you know, relationship building and mending. Some for sure will need to feel that the teams, that the team looks like their team and not the expansion team that it felt like last year with the new name and the new uniforms. some are gone forever. You know, that's just a fact. They just found better things to do with their time. And watching how all of that, you know,

how everybody behaves now that Dan is gone, what their response is to Dan being gone and how they act on that response. I think will be really interesting to sit here and chronicle over the next months and years ahead. No new owner will ever have the grace period, the honeymoon period, that this new owner will get. I mean, Josh Harris will have the all-time honeymoon grace period of any new sports owner of all time. And that's because, obviously, he's not Dan Snyder.

And that's what we have to be so thankful for that this actually happened. still amazing to think that it actually did. And again, even though I emphasize that right now, this is not about Josh Harris. It's about Dan being gone. Sit back and understand that this was not an easy purchase. And there weren't a lot of people ultimately that saw this as super attractive and certainly not super attractive at a $6 billion price tag. But Harris and his group did. And so amen to them and thank you to them. And, you know, we're with you, winner tie. That was apparently the line of one head coach at Virginia Tech, Frank Beamer,

who once said about a get-together with donors. Somebody stood up and said, coach, we're with you, winner tie. All right, I am done for the day. Minicamp, by the way, is going on. Spoke yesterday, so I'll have some of that on Monday's show. Have a good rest of the weekend. I heard there was a secret chord that David played and it pleased the Lord,

but you don't really care for music, do you? The shows like this, the fourth, the fifths, the minor fall and the major lift, the baffled king composed.