In a wide-ranging conversation, Harris discussed his primary goals in his first year owning the Commanders and opened up about his general philosophy for trying to turn around a sports franchise, much like he did with the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers and the NHL’s New Jersey Devils.
Harris did not directly address the firings of defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio and defensive backs coach Brent Vieselmeyer or the future of Coach Ron Rivera. But he shared part of his approach to balancing patience with necessary change.
“I have a public track record with Philly and New Jersey, and generally, when you change a system, sometimes you have to do it,” Harris said. “[But] you probably take a step back before you take a step forward. That’s not always the case, but I think generally that’s what the statistics would show. So I think it’s important to be patient. . . . You can have high expectations, but people have to say, ‘We want to be part of this.’ So that’s why you have to be measured with what you do.
“In sports, there’s pressure,” Harris continued. “There’s pressure from the public, but people aren’t always thinking about that long game of what are you trying to accomplish? And what we’re trying to accomplish is we want to have elite teams that consistently compete for championships.”
Since Harris and his 20 investors finalized a $6.05 billion purchase of the Commanders from Daniel Snyder in July, the team has announced sellouts for all five home games thus far. Last year, FedEx Field ranked as the lowest-attended stadium in the league. And as the fans have returned, so have the sponsors; the team announced six corporate sponsorships and partnerships before the season even began.
The Commanders also invested $40 million on improvements and capital repairs to the stadium, including the purchase of a new video board and sound system, some structural fixes, signage and changes to ingress and egress.
“We did as much as we could in six weeks,” Harris said. “But there’s a lot more work to do in the offseason. … We’re on a long journey.”
Harris and his team of limited partners — including Danaher Corporation co-founder Mitchell Rales, Washington-area venture capitalist Mark Ein and NBA great Earvin “Magic” Johnson — have their sights set on a new stadium.
The Commanders own FedEx Field and the surrounding property, and a covenant with Prince George’s County requires the team to play its home games there until at least Sept. 13, 2027. After that date, the team can stay or leave.
Harris said the team will continue to make improvements to its 26-year-old stadium while deliberating over its next home.
“We’re going to improve the existing stadium as much as we can while we look for a new home because it’s not the bones, necessarily,” Harris said. “The bones obviously can be repaired; they can be fixed. It’s more the way modern stadiums are set up; they’re very different than stadiums that are older. And so whether it’s the premium areas being really close to the game itself, how the suites are situated, how much premium there is, the WiFi, I mean, a lot of that stuff just can’t be done in an older stadium. So we’re going to be looking at ultimately how do we move to a new stadium.”
Since Harris’s purchase of the team was finalized, he has worked on repairing relations with local officials to ensure Virginia, Maryland and D.C. are all available to the team as potential stadium locations.
“Obviously, we’re in a fortunate position,” Ein said at Thursday’s conference. “Any sports ownership group would feel good to have as many options as we do, with three jurisdictions who would all love to welcome us. And so we’re evaluating it, and they all have pros and cons.”
“Certainly having a stadium that is accessible to the DMV at large, as best as we can manage all that, is important,” Harris said.
So, too, is building a place that will give the Commanders a true home-field advantage.
“It’s an edge,” Harris said. “So how you create the edge for your team is also another important concept.”
Earlier this year, Harris and Rales shot down the notion that the team could switch back to its former controversial name. But talk has continued about whether ownership would keep the Commanders’ name in the long term.
“We’re focused on winning football games for the rest of the season, fixing the stadium and engaging with the city,” Harris said. “I know [the name] is a topic that people in Washington want to talk about. But right now, we’re focused on the things that we think are really important right now.”
That includes rebuilding both the team on the field and the business. It includes creating the right culture, Harris said repeatedly, and constructing a new stadium. And it includes winning.
“We’ve done it in a bunch of sports, and I’m highly confident we’re going to do it here,” Harris said.
“It’s a long journey,” he added. “ … There’s no shortcuts to the top. There’s shortcuts to the middle. You want to be 8-8? I can get you there quickly — 8-8-1. You want to be great? There are no shortcuts.”
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