The last time the Washington NFL franchise won a Super Bowl was January 1992 and Josh Harris was just a couple years out of Harvard Business School.

Now, Harris and co-investors are buying the Commanders for a reported $6.05 billion, the most money ever paid for an American sports team.

Since beating the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXVI on Jan. 26, 1992, Washington hasn’t, to be polite, spent much time among the NFL’s elite, well-regarded teams.

In fact, the team is a mess, and its reputation and that of its current owner are in tatters.

So how in the world is it selling for $6 billion? After all, the Denver Broncos, who’ve been to four Super Bowls and won three since Washington was last in The Big Game, sold last year for $4.65 billion.

Many factors drive the sale price of a sports team, but ultimately its true worth is what someone is willing to pay for it — and several tycoons with 10 digits (or more) to their name were ready to pony up for the Commanders. The motivation to spend so much, even on a ragamuffin franchise, may vary depending on the individual and their goals.

Businessman Daniel Snyder, 58, bought the then-Redskins from the estate of the late Jack Kent Cooke in 1999 for a reported $800 million and the ensuing years haven’t exactly brought Washington much glory — mediocrity and scandals are more closely connected to the Commanders and Snyder than winning and superstar players.

Yet Snyder bought into the NFL at the right time. Over the next couple of decades, the NFL would cement its place as the nation’s most powerful television property, and the league’s shared revenue business structure meant the gargantuan media rights deals would bathe every owner in new money regardless of how well or poorly their team performed.

The NFL currently commands around $115 billion in long-term media rights deals with the major TV networks and tech giants, including Amazon and Google’s YouTube TV, through 2033. And with the declines in overall TV viewership, the NFL’s continued dominance helps overall team values.

It’s the theory that a rising tide lifts all boats in action. Even if that vessel resembles the RMS Titanic more than the Love Boat.

Under Snyder, the team made the playoffs just six times in 24 seasons, never advancing past the divisional round. Washington has a 164-220-2 record, plus 2-6 in the postseason, in that time under eight different full-time head coaches and is the only NFL team to not finish a season better than 10-6 at least once in that span. And recent years have brought accusations of widespread workplace sexual harassment in the Commanders’ front office along with investigations into alleged financial fraud — with some NFL owners publicly itching for Snyder to go.

Forbes estimated last year that the Commanders were worth $5.56 billion, ranking sixth among the 32 NFL teams (with an average value of $4.47 billion). Sportico pegged the Commanders eighth in the league at $4.78 billion, a 2 percent decline over 2021.

Forbes’ estimate of $130 million in 2021-22 operating income (as EBITDA) for the Commanders ranked 18th overall. The team’s actual finances are private, but with poor attendance compared to peers, it’s not a crazy assumption that the team is not as lucrative as it could be. But that’s not to suggest any NFL team isn’t a license to print money. It’s just a question of how much — particularly with taxpayer stadium subsidies and a federal tax rule instituted in 2004 that allows new owners to write off much of their purchase prices against team profits over 15 years, further helping goose up franchise values.

“This is a very consistently profitable franchise,” said Andrew Zimbalist, a noted professor of economics at Smith College and author of several sports finance books.

Marc Ganis, president of Chicago-based sports consulting firm Sportscorp Ltd. and a consultant closely connected to NFL owners, said the league’s management and its long-term strategies to fuel franchise growth are among several reasons for the Commanders to sell for so much.

“(The NFL) is constantly looking years into the future and working towards that. An example would be the YouTube deal,” he said. “They started talking to Google eight years ago. Same with Amazon. This league uses its position of strength to prepare to do well in the future rather than just focused on today. … That’s why team valuations are so high, and players are paid so much.”

So while the media money, and cash shared from merchandise, licensing, and corporate sponsorship sales, have made the NFL an $18 billion business and boosted all franchise values, the Commanders probably could have sold for even more money, according to sports industry economists and bankers.

The mediocre on-field performance, and Snyder’s handling of the club, have a direct effect on the sale price because of how revenue streams are affected now and in the future, said Michael Rapkoch, who does team valuations and financing as founder of Sports Value Consulting and as managing director of Texas Corporate Capital Advisors.

Harris and the new ownership group are likely to have to invest in a public relations campaign to rebuild fan and sponsor affinity so that big cash generators like season-ticket, suite, and corporate advertising sales are renewed at more consistent and lucrative rates.

“Owners look to what their return is going to be over the holding period, whatever that period is,” Rapkoch said.

In other words, Harris and his investors have to pay more money to fix the team and its brand on and off the field, which will take a few years. They’re not taking over a team with a waiting list for tickets, which the team boasted of beginning in the mid-1960s and probably was true until the later years of Cooke’s ownership.

“That’s going to take time to do. You’re not going to pay the seller for your efforts,” Rapkoch said.

Washington averaged 58,106 fans per game over nine home game at 67,617-seat FedEx Field last season, lowest in the NFL. That average was good for 86 percent of stadium seating capacity, also worst in the NFL, per ESPN tracking. The team did improve its 2022 attendance by more than 10 percent versus 2021, per Sports Business Journal, the best year-over-year improvement in the league.

“The more consistency in earnings and the better the brand, the higher the value,” Rapkoch said. “Strong, consistent revenue streams and cash flow, that has a positive impact on value.”

But still, $6 billion?

Beyond the NFL’s shared revenue, the Commanders specifically benefit from what real estate experts say is the value of location, location, location.

The size and depth of the Washington, D.C., market, being in the populous Northeast Corridor and so close to the nation’s nexus of political power, adds value to the franchise, Zimbalist said.

“It gives any owner access to politicians,” he said. “That’s highly desirable.”

The D.C. market’s growing monied populace and corporate demographics — the various headquarters and the battalions of lobbyists — are valuable to the new ownership, Ganis said.

“It wasn’t that long ago that (Washington) was considered one of the great sports franchises in the United States. It was talked about like the Giants and Yankees,” Ganis said. “This group grew up around that. They know what it was and what it can be. If they become successful on the field, they will get right back to that, and they know how powerful that can be.”

That potential is apparently worth $6 billion to Harris and his co-investors.

“(That is why there is) a price jump for the Commanders. Because of the market — the Washington market is a top-five market and growing dramatically,” Ganis said.

Snyder had plans for a new stadium to replace FedEx Field, which opened in 1997, but had trouble securing public funding. There’s been talk of a new venue in D.C., Maryland, or northern Virginia, and Harris is planning a $1 billion privately-financed arena project for the 76ers in downtown Philly. It’s still unclear what Washington’s stadium plans could be under the Harris group.

“There is a need for a new stadium, and I expect it will be an extraordinary facility that generates tremendous revenue,” Ganis said.

The money flowing from a fancy new ballpark with mixed-use development around — with the public footing some of the billionaires’ bill — is a long-term play that the owners surely hope would be built around a revitalized football team. And it’s a play that inflates the team’s sale price.

“That is a significant potential that you have to pay for today. You have to pay up front to get that opportunity that in five to seven years will start materializing,” Ganis said.

Zimbalist said the wasted franchise potential under current ownership isn’t necessarily a negative for the sale price or future value.

“The fact that the team didn’t do well under Snyder can be seen as an opportunity,” he said. “Everybody thinks they’re going to do better than the last guy.”

Buying a hard-luck sports team also can feed an ego if the fanbase embraces the new owner. “Whomever comes in with this team is going to be greeted like a conquering hero coming home,” Ganis said.

Additionally, the NFL’s hard salary cap means known, controlled labor expenses that also make parity in the win-loss column more likely than in some other major leagues.

“Any team can rise to the top with a decent front office,” Zimbalist said, adding that the ongoing legalization of sports gambling nationwide also helps with franchise values.

Also helping prop up value is that Washington plays in the NFC East, which means it hosts powerful legacy brands every season in rivalry games with the Cowboys, Eagles and Giants — often on national TV.

“When Dallas comes into Washington, that’s a must-see game. This is just a great division,” Rapkoch said.

Additionally, more than one person wanted to buy the team and competition can drive up sale prices — and in sports, like real estate, comps can help the value of all teams.

“There was some active bidding going on,” Zimbalist said. Other billionaires connected to potential Commanders bids included Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Canadian real estate investor Steve Apostolopoulos, and restaurant, hotel, and casino owner Tilman Fertitta, who also owns the NBA’s Houston Rockets.

However, Bezos, who had hired famed sports team brokers Allen & Co., eventually opted to not bid, and Fertitta dropped out. Any new owner has to be approved by 24 of the league’s other majority or controlling owners, which could happen at a scheduled May meeting.

The future new occupants of the owners’ suite won’t be a single person. In addition to Johnson, who is known for a wide business portfolio that includes a stake in the L.A. Dodgers, Harris’ group is said to include Mitchell Rales, a businessman worth a reported $5.7 billion.

NFL teams are so expensive that they typically require multiple deep-pocket investors as part of a consortium, and rising interest rates on any borrowing hasn’t helped. The league, which requires a lead owner to have 30 percent of the purchase price in cash, doesn’t yet permit private equity corporations to own shares of teams, although that may change as team values continue to rise and the pool of willing potential owners is further limited.

The lead investor, Harris, 58, is estimated to be personally worth $6 billion, a fortune built through private equity that later paid for his co-ownership of the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils, both of which are held by Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment. So he’s familiar with how the ownership game is played — often in public — and understands that to buy into the NFL takes a lot of money.

NFL teams are the most valuable U.S. sports properties, and they don’t often come on the market often. Only four have changed hands in the past decade: Broncos ($4.65 billion, 2022), Carolina Panthers ($2.27 billion, 2018), Buffalo Bills ($1.4 billion, 2014), Cleveland Browns ($1.05 billion, 2012), and Jacksonville Jaguars ($760 million, 2012).

Now, the Commanders franchise will have a fresh start and almost certainly will continue to gain in value, which is why sports industry insiders are not raising much of an eyebrow at the sales price.

“Does it surprise me? No,” Rapkoch said.

And what about buyer’s remorse?

“Whatever price is paid for the Commanders in 2023, by 2030 it’s going to be viewed as an incredible investment. The value of the franchises, the revenue of the NFL, a new stadium deal, will make this $6 billion-plus price look cheap,” Ganis said. “There is no one who paid to buy an NFL team in the past 40 years who is disappointed in their investment.”

(Top photo: Todd Olszewski / Getty Images)