Red Sox owner John Henry seen as possible bidder for Commanders: sources

Boston Red Sox owner John Henry is seen as a possible bidder for the Washington Commanders as the investing tycoon moves to sell his UK-based soccer team Liverpool, two sources with knowledge of the situation told The Post.

Henry’s Fenway Sports Group has hired Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to unload Liverpool in a deal that’s expected to fetch between $4 billion and $5 billion, sources told The Post, confirming media reports from last week.

Fenway is already in discussions with suitors, according to reports. On Wednesday, a Kuwait-based news outlet reported that Fenway had reached a deal to sell Liverpool to an unnamed, Qatar-based investor. The Post couldn’t confirm the report.

Fenway Sports, which owns Liverpool in partnership with RedBird Capital Partners, will likely collect $2 to $3 billion in such a deal when subtracting the team’s debt, the source close to the Liverpool talks said.

That, in turn, would provide the bulk of a war chest to spend the $4 billion or so in equity needed to buy control of the Commanders — pitting him against a prospective bidding bloc that’s reportedly being formed by Jeff Bezos, Jay-Z and Matthew McConaughey in an auction that could fetch north of $5.6 billion, the sources said.

“This may be a precursor to him buying the Commanders,” a source close to recent deals to sell NFL franchises said of Henry. “John wants to own an NFL team. They will look at the Commanders.”

Fenway Sports Group didn’t respond to requests for comment.

The Post broke the news that Liverpool was for sale in 2018, but now a formal auction appears to be taking shape, as news broke Monday that Henry had put together presentations for prospective bidders. The news came as a surprise to some insiders, according to one source, as Henry could now face the backlash from Liverpool fans if he backs out of a deal, potentially putting him at a disadvantage in sale talks.

Sources speculate that Henry’s sense of urgency increased last week after the Commanders’ embattled owner Dan Snyder and his wife Tanya announced they had hired Bank of America “to consider potential transactions” related to the team.

Snyder has not yet distributed sales books and there is still some question of whether he will seek a full sale, sources said.

Henry would face a formidable rival in Amazon founder Bezos, who sources say has long had his sights on buying the Commanders, who adopted their new name in February after scrapping the controversial Redskins moniker in 2020 following the George Floyd protests.

Bezos’ net worth is currently pegged by Forbes at $111 billion, versus Henry’s $4 billion.

Nevertheless, a source told NBC sports on Monday that Bezos’ bid could be complicated by the fact that he also owns the Washington Post, a paper that has long been critical of Snyder.

“It’ll never happen,” a source told NBC Sports. “Dan Snyder detests the Washington Post. No way he’d sell to the owner of that paper.”

In addition to the Red Sox and Liverpool, Fenway last year acquired the Pittsburgh Penguins NHL franchise. Insiders say Henry appears to believe that Fenway’s management under CEO Sam Kennedy could make the Commanders successful like the group’s other teams.

“They have a really strong management style,” the source close to recent NFL team sales said. “The NFL makes a lot of sense.”

Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant has also expressed interest in buying the Commanders but doesn’t have the money to lead a bidding group, sources said.

Speculation about the Commanders comes as Henry is pursuing an NBA expansion team. For months Henry has been working on bringing an expansion NBA club to Las Vegas though the NBA has not yet announced plans to add new teams.

LeBron James in March bought a 1% stake in Fenway Sports Group and the NBA would love to have LeBron being part of an ownership group when he retires, sources said.