Jeff Bezos and Jay-Z may team up to bid on the Washington Commanders NFL team, reports say
Jeff Bezos may be mulling his biggest purchase yet: an NFL franchise.
The Amazon founder is "looking into buying the Washington Commanders," with music mogul Jay-Z potentially joining Bezos as an investor, a person close to Bezos told People on Thursday. Bloomberg, the Washington Post, and TMZ also reported the news.
A spokesperson for Bezos did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
While the Commanders aren't officially up for sale, the team's billionaire owners, Dan and Tanya Snyder, announced Wednesday that they'd hired Bank of America to "consider potential transactions," which could include a sale.
The Snyders have been under pressure for several years to sell the team, which is currently being investigated by the NFL, the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, and the attorneys general of Washington, DC, and Virginia concerning allegations of financial improprieties, which the team has denied, according to the Post.
The Commanders are worth $5.6 billion, according to an estimate by Forbes from August, making the team the 6th-most valuable NFL franchise.
But Washington fans may not want to get too excited just yet: Bezos — who's currently worth $115 billion, according to Bloomberg's Billionaires Index — is frequently named a potential NFL owner by league observers, disgruntled team owners, and hopeful fans. He's been linked to four teams since 2018 alone, including Washington, the Seattle Seahawks, Detroit Lions, and Los Angeles Chargers. None of those rumors amounted to anything, and Bezos has never publicly stated that he's interested in team ownership.
Still, the Amazon billionaire does have a track record of making major acquisitions in DC — he bought the Post for $250 million in 2013 — and a proven interest in football. He attended the Super Bowl in 2019, 2020, and 2022, and sat alongside NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell at a Thursday night game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Los Angeles Chargers in September. Amazon sponsors "Thursday Night Football" and plans to air the first-ever Black Friday game in 2023.
For Jay-Z, team ownership would be nothing new: the hip-hop star was a part-owner of the NBA's Brooklyn Nets, though he sold his stake in 2013.