It’s been a frustrating week for those wanting information on the sale of the Washington Commanders. A Washington Post report from earlier in the week suggested that some NFL owners were skeptical about owner Dan Snyder selling the team and that Snyder hadn’t updated the NFL or other owners on the sale process.
On Thursday morning, Adam Schefter of ESPN provided the following update:
DC billionaire Mitchell Rales is partnering with Josh Harris in their attempt to buy the Washington Commanders, per league source. Rales is the co-founder of the Danaher Corporation, DC’s largest company.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 9, 2023
Mitchell Rales, the co-founder of Danaher Motion, was joining Josh Harris’ bid to buy the Commanders. Both Rales and Harris are worth north of $5 billion each.
This was a smart move by Harris for multiple reasons. While there were some questions about his liquidity, that is not a concern if he’s partnered with Rales. Also, having someone as connected as Rales in Washington can help get the RFK Stadium location back on the table for the Commanders if Harris and Rales win the bid.
Who is Rales?
He's local
Much like Josh Harris, who was raised in Chevy Chase and went to high school at The Field School in Washington, D.C., Rales is also a native Washingtonian. Rales grew up in Bethesda and graduated from Walt Whitman High School.
He still resides in Potomac, Maryland.
College education
Rales went to Miami University — in Ohio — and graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in 1978. When Rales was a student at Miami, the sports teams were named the Redskins. That has long since changed to the RedHawks.
Danaher
Rales and his brother Steven founded Equity Group Holdings before changing the name to Diversified Mortgage Investors and eventually Danaher. Over the years, Rales and his brother would acquire over three dozen companies, turning Danaher into an industrial firm with over $29 billion in revenues.
Art
Rales and his wife founded the Glenstone Art Museum in Potomac.
Sited in a densely wooded area along the Woodland Trail, the 4,000-square-foot concrete structure was designed by Thomas Phifer of Thomas Phifer and Partners, in collaboration with the artist Richard Serra. pic.twitter.com/wMyOQupGKe
— Glenstone Museum (@GlenstoneMuseum) June 23, 2022
In addition, Rales is the president of the National Gallery of Art.
Sports history
Per Michael Phillips of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Rales once considered an ownership stake in the Baltimore Orioles.
Most interesting is Rales and his brother brought the first sports-only radio station to Washington in the early 1990s: WTEM. That station was later owned by Commanders owner Dan Snyder and is now called The Team 980.
Philanthropic efforts
In 2018, Rales told The Washington Post the following:
“What I mean by that is we’re not leaving the Earth with any money,” Rales says. “When we go, there’s not going to be money bestowed on children and grandchildren in any meaningful way. This is about reallocating the money we had the good fortune of making to other causes.”
