Cooke Wihdraws 'Skins Bid

Team president John Kent Cooke unexpectedly withdrew his bid for the Washington Redskins on Thursday, and The Associated Press has learned the team's trustees are close to a making a deal to sell the team to communications executive Daniel Snyder for $800 million.

Cooke, apparently ending his dream of owning the team his father owned, pulled out with a statement indicative of his ongoing frustration with the trustees overseeing his father's estate.

"This week I presented a greatly increased offer ... for the Washington Redskins and Jack Kent Cooke Stadium," Cooke said. "The executors failed to act on my offer and today I have withdrawn it.

"I refuse to be used merely to increase the bids of others, since it is well known that I have always wanted to keep the Redskins in my family."

The trustees have essentially ignored Cooke's latest offer, which he said was higher than the $680 bid he made last fall, and have chosen instead to negotiate directly with Snyder, according to sources close to the situation.

Snyder was a partner with New York estate developer Howard Milstein in an $800 million offer that in January was named the winner in a round of bidding conducted by the trustees.

But Milstein withdrew the bid earlier this month when it became apparent that NFL owners would not approve it. The owners said Milstein was using too much borrowed money to finance the purchase, and there were also concerns about the type of owner he would be.

Snyder, head of Bethesda, Md.-based Snyder Communications, did have ready cash behind his bid and was well received by some NFL owners. He has since assembled his own group that includes publishing executives Mort Zuckerman and Fred Drasner to match the $800 million offer he originally made with Milstein.

The sources told the AP that a deal with Snyder could be completed within 10 days and presented to the owners at the May 25-26 league meetings in Atlanta.

League officials refused to comment, but commissioner Paul Tagliabue indicated Saturday that the matter could be resolved in "an expedited schedule."

"(It's possible) we would present something at our league meeting in May, if not before," Tagliabue said.

Jack Kent Cooke died April 6, 1997. Rather than leave the Redskins to his son, he instructed that the Redskins be sold and the process used to establish a scholarship fund.

A lawyer for the trustees declined comment.

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