The increasingly bitter battle for control of the Washington Football Team took a significant turn on Friday when three of the team’s limited partners, who together own 40 percent of the club, asked a federal judge to allow them to sell their shares as a group. Such filings are rare in the opaque world of buying and selling N.F.L. Most ownership disputes are handled in-house by a league arbitrator, but by taking it to court, the minority shareholders are signaling the depth of the discord with the majority owner, Daniel Snyder. Their maneuver to court, however, risks alienating the league and other team owners. Snyder has given legal notice to the limited partners that he will exercise his right of first refusal, but buy out only Smith and Rothman, who together own 25 percent, not Schar, who holds 15 percent of the team.

Source: New York Times November 14, 2020 00:22 UTC