The Josh Harris-era is off to a great start after the Washington Commanders won their first game under their new owner. Washington defeated the Cleveland Browns 17-15 to open the preseason.
In celebration of both the win and new ownership, head coach Ron Rivera gave Harris a game ball. The move was met with cheers and approval from the players.
Rivera spoke on the moment saying, “We did hand Mr. Harris a game ball. It was a preseason game and we told him a win’s a win and you can always keep this one. We gave it to him and the guys were pretty fired up and looking forward to the opportunity to give him one for real,” via Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk.
Harris reaffirmed his pride in the franchise following the touching move.
“I'm proud to be part of this family, man,” Harris said. “Thank you for delivering the win. Love you guys,” per Tim Kelly of Sports Illustrated.
It's safe to say that the team would not have given a game ball to previous owner Dan Snyder. This move is a good sign that the Harris ownership is already going much better.
Josh Harris hopes to turn around the franchise after Dan Snyder's 24 year tenure with Washington. During this time, Snyder established a culture of harassment, sexual misconduct, and intimidation which warranted federal investigations. His ownership also led the team to very little success on the field as the franchise only won two playoff games since he took over in 1999. He finally sold the franchise to Harris in July after swarming pressure across the league.