Timeline of the Sale of an NFL franchise -
Denver Broncos -2022
Feb 1, 22 - the CEO of the Broncos officially announces the trust of former own Pat Bowlen is putting the team up for sale - hope to have it completed by the start of the 2022 Season
June 6, 22 - the Broncos announced that they have entered into an agreement with the Walton-Pennar Family to purchase the team for $4.65 Billion (Jeff Bezos was involved in the bidding and was reportedly willing to go to $5 Billion but felt Walton would continue to outbid him so dropped out to keep from driving up the price of the next team to hit the market).
Aug 8, 22 - the sale is approved by a unanimous vote of the NFL owners completing the process of purchasing the team.
Carolina Panthers - 2018
Feb, 2018 - Panthers announce the team is for sale
May 15, 2018 - Panthers announce that they have entered into an agreement with David Tepper to purchase the team for $2.2 Billion
May, 2018 - the sale is approved by the NFL owners
July 9, 2018 - the sale of the team is finalized following Tepper divesting himself of a 5% stake in the Steelers that he had held for 9 years
Buffalo Bills - 2014
March, 2014 - Bills become available for purchase following the death of owner and founder Ralph Wilson (95)
Sept 8, 2014 - Bills announce that they have entered into an agreement with Terry and Kim Pegula for a purchase price of $1.2 Billion (other parties reportedly interested in purchasing included Jon Bon Jovi and Donald Trump)
Sept 17, 2014 - it is reported that the Pegula's have been approved by the NFL Finance Committee
Oct 8, 2014 - the sale is approved by a unanimous vote of the NFL owners
The rough average of these 3 team transactions is 6.5 months. If the sale of the Commanders follows this pattern, we would be looking at having a new owner in the late April/early May time frame. The caveat I can think of for this is that the league year starts in March and there might be a push among the owners to have this completed by that date.
The bulk of the time in each of the above sales was consumed by the bidding process.