For only the second autumn since , Snyder was not the owner of his beloved Washington football team. He was not living the ups and downs of an NFL season, as he had done since his childhood in Maryland. He was not presiding over the Commanders ' rebuild, already on the cusp of a stunning turnaround, the kind of rise that Snyder lived for in a previous life: from in to what would eventually be a regular season and an underdog playoff run, culminating in an NFC Championship Game appearance Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles.
At the London dinner, Snyder, 60, was polite, if not subdued, and did things the associates had come to expect, such as ordering almost everything on the menu. Snyder said that he was enjoying a quiet existence, mostly in London.
Life was better for his family, far from the controversies that had engulfed him and the team the past several years. Talk inevitably turned to the improving Commanders, already off to a strong start. When one associate returned to the United States, a colleague asked him the question that's been on the minds of many fans and league executives:.
What's it like for Snyder, for years the most hated owner in sports, to watch the Commanders succeed without him? But according to league sources, team owners, sports executives, lawyers and others with knowledge of his current status, some of whom requested anonymity to discuss sensitive legal matters, Snyder has recast much of his life since he sold the Commanders under duress 19 months ago.
He has mostly lived in London, often surrounded by a security detail, or spent time on his superyacht. He is trying to sell his remaining U. Any business he conducts is from the U. What little remains for him in the United States includes a tangle of unresolved legal issues -- and the thoughts of what might have been if he had never sold the team. Few people outside the league, Harris' company, or the Commanders organization know that he tried desperately to blow up the sale at the last minute.
