Amazon founder Jeff Bezos will not bid on the Washington Commanders, a source with knowledge of the situation told Front Office Sports.

Bezos hired the sports banking firm Allen & Company to explore a bid for the team in February, and reps for the firm have monitored the bidding process in the weeks since. Ultimately, the world’s third-richest person decided not to bid on the Commanders. 

The revelation leaves the group headed by Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils owner Josh Harris as the only current contender for the team. 

FOS previously reported that Harris — who counts billionaire industrial firm co-founder Mitchell Rales and NBA legend Magic Johnson as part of his group — is the “only” legitimate bidder for the Commanders, with an offer between $5.5 billion and $6 billion. 

Amid multiple investigations and pressure applied by fellow NFL owners, Commanders owner Dan Snyder announced in November that the team was “exploring all options,” including a full franchise sale. Snyder purchased the Commanders for  $800 million in 1999.

A winning bidder is expected to be announced before the next NFL owners meeting, which begin May 22. While some speculated early in the process Snyder may ultimately decide to keep the franchise, sources have told FOS for weeks that outcome is highly unlikely.

There’s a feeling within Bezos’ camp that he has been used to push the bidding by others in the franchise to a higher level, the source said. 

Sources have consistently told FOS that Snyder was reluctant to sell to Bezos due to his ownership of The Washington Post, an outlet that exposed a toxic workplace environment that existed within the franchise.

Bezos, however, was not barred from bidding. One source told FOS that Bezos would have to pay a premium over the top bid by another finalist for the team.

Allen & Company declined comment when reached by FOS on Wednesday. 

Earlier in the day, Puck News reported that Bezos wasn’t “currently” expected to bid, but a source was more adamant to FOS: “Bezos is not bidding.”

Bezos’ apparent interest in the team goes back to before they became known as the Commanders.

An attorney for Bezos had talks with a banking firm about acquiring 40% of the team when three minority shareholders of the team sought to sell their stake, FOS reported in February 2021.

Economic conditions have caused the NBA to implement a hiring freeze and other cost-cutting measures around the league office.

In a memo obtained by The New York Times sent to NBA staff members Tuesday, the league said it was “facing a very different economic reality than just one year ago,” and added, “We are seeing significant challenges to achieving our revenue budget with additional downside risk still in front of us.”

NBA employees were told to cancel some off-site meetings or host them virtually, while other expenses related to travel and entertainment are being cut. 

Commissioner Adam Silver said last year that the NBA expected to make about $10 billion in revenue for its 2021-22 season. 

The budget cuts come just days after the NBA announced it sold the most tickets for a regular season in league history in 2022-23 and set new records for all-time attendance and sellouts. 

The NBA’s current media rights package expires after the 2024-25 season, and the league is seeking between $75 billion and $100 billion in its next wave of broadcast and streaming deals.

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Other leagues have also begun reducing costs amid macroeconomic concerns. 

Front Office Sports reported last month that the NFL is laying off staff from its media division. ESPN is also expecting to undergo layoffs amid widespread job cuts from parent company Walt Disney.

The NBA’s last round of layoffs occurred in 2020, ahead of the league’s restart during the pandemic. 

The Big Ten has chosen media executive Tony Petitti as its next commissioner, the conference announced on Wednesday.

He will succeed Kevin Warren, who will official step down on Friday as he moves into an executive role with the Chicago Bears. Petitti’s official start date is May 15.

The hire follows a recent trend in the upper echelon of college sports in which new executives are plucked from other industries. As college conferences look less like educational institutions and more like billion-dollar pro-sports businesses, hiring former media and business executives — even politicians — has become the norm.

The Pac-12’s George Kliavkoff and Big 12’s Brett Yormark both came from outside the industry.  Even NCAA president Charlie Baker, a former Massachusetts governor, never worked in college sports.

• Petitti has worked primarily in the media rights space — he’s a former executive at ABC, CBS Sports, and Major League Baseball, where he helped launch MLB Network and then served as league COO.
• He’s had plenty of experience with college sports media rights, however. He was an architect of the BCS and oversaw the NCAA Division I men’s tournament while at CBS.
• He also had a short stint as the president of Activision Blizzard but stepped down in June of 2021 after less than a year in the role.

Petitti will take the reins of the richest conference in all of college sports. Last year, Warren struck a mid-$7 billion media rights deal with CBS, NBC, and FOX. 

The incoming commissioner will also oversee the arrival of UCLA and USC in 2024.