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SPORTS Friday 21 July 2023
NFL owners unanimously approve the $6.05B sale of the Commanders

By DAVE CAMPBELL and der, an ouster that would
STEPHEN WHYNO have required votes from
AP Sports Writers at least 24 of the other 31
BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (AP) clubs. Two weeks later,
— NFL owners unanimously Snyder and his wife Tanya
approved the sale of the hired a firm to begin explor-
Washington Commanders ing a sale of part or all of
on Thursday from Dan Sny- one of the NFL’s oldest fran-
der to a group led by Josh chises one that has called
Harris and including Magic the nation’s capital home
Johnson for a record $6.05 since 1937.
billion. Ultimately, that process
All 32 team owners voted led to a group chaired by
for the sale, which is the Harris. His investment crew
highest price paid for a also includes David Blitzer,
North American profes- with whom he co-owns the
sional sports team. After NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers
the finance committee and the NHL’s New Jersey
approved the agreement Devils, Washington-area
with the new ownership businessman Mitchell Rales
group, Harris Blitzer Sports and more than a dozen
and Entertainment, a spe- Magic Johnson arrives at the premiere of “They Call Me Magic” on Thursday, April 14, 2022, at others. The unusually large
cial league meeting was Regency Village Theatre in Los Angeles. ownership group needed
called to consider and Associated Press and received league fi-
vote on it before the 2023 the prospects of going into a postseason game and team to allegations of sex- nance approval for a deal
season begins. Washington and giving went 166-226-2 overall. The ual harassment by former that shattered the $4.35 bil-
Dallas Cowboys owner them some capital punish- franchise has lost a signifi- employees, which prompt- lion Walmart heir Rob Wal-
Jerry Jones beamed as he ment.” cant amount of luster from ed a series of investigations ton paid last year for the
walked off an escalator Snyder had owned his fa- the glory days under coach into workplace miscon- Denver Broncos.
and headed toward the vorite boyhood team since Joe Gibbs, who won three duct. Over and over again, The special meeting for
meeting room, granting a 1999, when he bought it Super Bowls in his 12-year Snyder said he would never the Commanders sale was
brief interview with report- for $800 million. Success run from 1981-92. sell the team. conducted at the same
ers about the impending was fleeting, both on and Then there were the prob- The tide began to shift hotel adjacent to the Mall
sale of his team’s division off the field. With Snyder in lems outside of football, on that front last October of America in suburban
rival. charge, the team made from a feud with minority when Indianapolis Colts Minneapolis where Wal-
“It’s a hallmark day,” Jones the playoffs just six times in owners that led Snyder to owner Jim Irsay said there ton’s group gained formal
said. “I’m excited about 24 years, only twice won buy out their shares of the was “merit to remove” Sny- control of the Broncos. q

Kasper Asgreen holds on to win 18th stage of Tour de France

BOURG-EN-BRESSE, France ideal. I would have pre- lometer (114.6-mile) route green raised his arms at the “It means so much with the
(AP) — Another Danish rid- ferred to break with sev- from Moûtiers to Bourg-en- line. The huge effort took its period I had this year since
er took the limelight at the en or eight riders. It’s also Bresse. toll as he dismounted and I crashed at Tour de Suisse,”
Tour de France on Thursday one of the final stages of Belgian rider Victor sat on the tarmac to get his Asgreen said. “I’ve come
as Kasper Asgreen joined the Tour after really hard Campenaerts joined As- breath back, before being a long way, and to cap it
an early breakaway and weeks,” Asgreen said. “I green and Abrahamsen to congratulated by a Soudal off with a victory like this is
then held on to win the didn’t rule out the possibility form an early breakaway. Quick-Step teammate. amazing.”q
18th stage in a sprint finish. of winning. My breakaway They worked well togeth-
His countryman Jonas companions were just ex- er and after the first hour
Vingegaard took it easy cellent out there. We all had opened up a lead of
this time, sitting comfort- deserved to win because around one minute. The
ably in the main pack as he of how much work we put gap remained the same,
protected his huge over- into the break.” give or take a few seconds
all lead. The defending They were all given the either way, with under 100
champion leads two-time same time of 4 hours, 6 kilometers (62 miles) left.
Tour winner Tadej Pogačar minutes, 48 seconds after But the peloton, after roll-
of Slovenia by 7 minutes, holding off a large group of ing along in the sunshine
35 seconds and Britain’s sprinters behind them who at a mercifully reduced
Adam Yates by 10:45 with left it too late. Star sprinter pace compared to previ-
Sunday’s finale in Paris get- Jasper Philipsen missed out ous days, then eventually
ting closer. on another stage win and stepped it up, with Quen-
But this was Asgreen’s day finished fourth. tin Pacher and Fred Wright
and he spread his arms af- After Vingegaard took full setting a higher tempo.
ter beating Dutchman Pas- control of the race with Eenkhoorn was the next to Denmark’s Kasper Asgreen celebrates as he crosses the
cal Eenkhoorn and Norwe- some jaw-droppingly fast attack and he was the only finish line ahead of Netherlands’ Pascal Eenkhoorn, right, and
gian Jonas Abrahamsen in riding to crush Pogacar in one to join the trio to make Norway’s Jonas Abrahamsen, left, to win the eighteenth stage of
their dash to the line. the Alps, Thursday’s stage it a four-man group. the Tour de France cycling race over 185 kilometers (115 miles)
with start in Moutiers and finish in Bourg-en-Bresse, France,
“Obviously the situation of offered respite to the main The peloton left it too late, Thursday, July 20, 2023.
our breakaway was not contenders on a flat 185-ki- and they just held on as As- Associated Press