Washington minority owners looking to sell their shares

The Washington football team’s minority owners are looking to sell their shares due to frustration with majority owner Daniel Snyder. 

It has been a hectic week for Washington’s NFL team, and now, the team’s minority owners are looking to get out.

Robert Rothman, Dwight Schar, and Frederick W. Smith hired an investment firm to seek out potential buyers because they are “not happy being a partner” of majority owner Daniel Snyder, according to The Washington Post. Rothman is chairman and CEO of Black Diamond Capital, a private investment company. Schar is chairman of NVR Inc., the fifth-largest home builder in the United States. And Smith is the president and CEO of FedEx, which bought the naming rights to the Washington NFL stadium in 1999.

The trio are the only other owners besides Dan Snyder, his sister, and his mother.

The decision comes as the organization attempts to finally confront their controversial name, which has long been considered a racial slur. The team announced last week that they are launching a review of the name, and many people expect that will lead to a new name and logo before the start of the 2020 season.

Snyder has long been resistant to changing the team’s name. But last week, FedEx said, “We have communicated to the team in Washington our request that they change the name.” PepsiCo, Nike, and Bank of America all followed suit within 24 hours.

If the Washington owners sell their stake in the club, which totals approximately 40 percent combined, the decision would have to be vetted by the NFL’s finance committee and ratified by the other owners in the league. And it would be the second set of business partners that Snyder has cycled through in his 21-year tenure with Washington.