Given that the reporting regarding the Commanders sale has been all over the place generally, it’s fitting that ESPN.com is now disputing the reporting that owner Daniel Snyder has agreed to sell the team to Josh Harris.
According to ESPN.com, Canadian billionaire Steve Apostolopoulos remains in the mix for the team.
As an unnamed source told ESPN.com, it’s “a head-to-head race. . . . It’s anyone’s game.”
Is it though? Is Steve Apostolopoulos really in it? Or is something else going on, such as perhaps Snyder trying to use the uncertainty to shake one more concession from Harris?
As noted when ESPN reported on the same day that Harris and then that Apostolopoulos had made a $6 billion bid for the team, there has to be a way to break the tie. Even if it means a full-blown auction, with “I have 6; do I hear 6.1?” and so on, until one bidder remains.
It makes sense, given the full bulk of the reporting on this situation, to be skeptical generally. It’s hard to know the specific reports about which to be skeptical. But the unnamed source persuaded someone at ESPN.com to green light a report that Apostolopoulos is still in play, which presumably is no small feat.
Maybe the deal isn’t done. Maybe it is. The uncertainty underscores the fact that this one won’t be done until it’s officially and finally and completely done.