Three minority owners of the Washington Redskins are looking to sell their shares in the team.
Businessmen Robert Rothman, Dwight Schar, and Frederick Smith have hired an investment banking firm to conduct the search for potential buyers, which, according to one unnamed source, was happening because they are “not happy being a partner” of majority owner Daniel Snyder, the Washington Post reported. ProFootballTalk first reported that Schar and Smith were trying to sell their share of the team on Sunday.
Rothman is chairman and CEO of Black Diamond Capital, a private investment company; Schar is chairman of NVR Inc., one of the largest homebuilder companies in the country; and Smith is the chairman, president, and CEO of FedEx, which has a long-standing partnership with the football franchise. Together, they account for about 40% of the team’s ownership. The remaining stake rests with Snyder, his mother, and his sister.
The organization said on Friday that it will conduct a “thorough review” of the team’s name amid new demands that it stops referring to the team as the Redskins, which critics view as being racist and insensitive to Native Americans.
“This process allows the team to take into account not only the proud tradition and history of the franchise but also input from our alumni, the organization, sponsors, the National Football League, and the local community it is proud to represent on and off the field,” Snyder said in a statement last Friday.
Snyder, who purchased the franchise in 1999, has long resisted calls to change the name of the team and only budged facing intense pressure from the public and corporate sponsors amid a nationwide reckoning on race that began after the death in police custody of George Floyd in late May.
“We have communicated to the team in Washington our request that they change the team name,” FedEx, which has naming rights over the team’s stadium, said in a statement late Thursday. Adding on pressure was Nike, which said it was pulling all Redskins merchandise from its website.
[Opinion: On the Redskins’ name, it’s corporate America and the liberal media against Native Americans]
