According to multiple sources including The Athletic and The Washington Post, Hollywood A-lister Matthew McConaughey is “actively exploring” joining or leading a group of investors to bid on the NFL’s Washington Commanders.
A longtime fan of Washington’s football team and a personal friend of current owner Daniel Snyder, McConaughey would not have the financial resources to take over majority ownership of the team on his own and has been linked to a rumored investment group fronted by Jeff Bezos and Jay-Z by The New York Post. “Matthew has always been a huge fan and his ties with the team go way back,” a source told The Post. “They support his foundation and he’s good pals with Dan Snyder — he and [supermodel wife Camila Alves] were on Dan’s yacht over the Super Bowl last year.”
The 53-year-old actor, who is a co-owner of Austin FC of the MLS, is from Texas but explained to Jay Leno back in 2013 that his support of Washington’s football team is rooted in watching westerns with his dad and his childhood love of hamburgers.
“Longhorn in college, but Washington Redskins in the NFL,” McConaughey said of his football fandom. “I grew up watching westerns with my father; I was always rooting for the Indians instead of the Cowboys. My favorite food was hamburgers growing up; they had a linebacker, no. 55, Chris Hanburger. And then John Riggins. When you’re 4 years old, that’s why you really commit to a team, for reasons like that. It goes way back.”
It’ll be very interesting to see how much McConaughey’s fandom moves forward and if Bezos and Jay-Z are involved. It’s also possible that NBA star Kevin Durant, who has invested in multiple sports franchises including a pickleball team, will throw his hat into the ring.
A lifelong fan of Washington’s football team who was born and raised in the D.C. area, Durant told ESPN he would be part of the next phase of ownership of Snyder’s franchise “in a perfect world.”
“I would love to do it. I would love to give a little bit of my money to be a part of the Commanders, but we’ll see. Hopefully it’s somebody nice. I heard Bezos and Jay-Z, but you never know,” he said. “Of course, I don’t have a lot of money, though. I don’t have that much money to say, ‘Look, man, let me get a piece of the team.’ So I’m sure it would have to work out some way, somehow. I would love to, obviously, but to be honest, I doubt that it’ll happen. It’s a five-, six-billion-dollar team.”
If Snyder gets what he reportedly wants for the franchise, the Commanders will end up as a $7-billion team.
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