Ted Leonsis hasn’t given up on the idea of buying the Washington Nationals.

The owner of both the Washington Capitals and the Washington Wizards talked about his “… high interest in consolidating sports teams in our region” during an interview with MOCO 360, released on Thursday.

Leonsis, a former executive with AOL among other businesses, has cornered the market on team ownership in the Washington D.C. area. Along with the Capitals and the Wizards, he also owns the G League’s Capital City Go-Go and the WNBA’s Washington Mystics.

He is also the founder, majority owner, chairman and CEO of Monumental Sports & Entertainment. Through Monumental, he runs the Monumental Sports Network, which he recently purchased from Comcast so he could control the TV rights for his teams.

Part of his desire to own another team in the market, whether it be the Nationals or the MLS’s D.C. United, is for more television programming.

“Owning a baseball team would double the amount of games and be year-round,” he said. “You can see from a business standpoint, that’s important.”

So, there’s clearly a business play for him, should be somehow acquire the Nationals. But, in the same breath, he also said that he didn’t “… want to buy a baseball team so I can get programming for the network.”

He rejects any notion that a team like the Nationals can’t compete with the New York Yankees, reasoning that by leveraging a combination of teams he can help all of them in free agency.

“But why it’s important for the team is, how can you define yourself as a big market team?” he said. “How can you attract free agents? How can you keep really good young players from going somewhere else? Which we have proven we do with my teams. Alex Ovechkin didn’t leave to go to a hockey market. He stayed and made it a hockey market.”

The Nationals had been exploring a sale since 2022. The Lerner family bought it from MLB in 2006 and Mark Lerner now controls the team. In February, Lerner told the Washington Post that the team was no longer for sale.

Where that leaves Leonsis’ interest is anyone’s guess. However, there could be another way for him to get Nationals programming on his network — if the Nets were to get their broadcast rights back.

As part of the deal that allowed the Nationals to move from Montreal, the Baltimore Orioles own the team’s broadcast rights. Winning those rights back could allow Washington to entertain working with Leonsis that way.

For the fourth time in its history, the NCAA conducted a comprehensive site selection process, putting most of its championships up for bid simultaneously.

The association chose over 240 host sites for preliminary and final rounds of predetermined championships across Divisions I, II and III, primarily for the 2026-27 and 2027-28 seasons. This cycle marked a shift from a four-year to a two-year site selection process.

For men’s hockey, the men’s Frozen Four will be held in Washington DC in 2027 and Chicago in 2028. For the women, the Frozen Four is set for Duluth, Minn, in 2027 and Fairfield, Conn., in 2028.

The NCAA received more than 1,200 bids from member schools, conferences, cities and sports commissions across 47 states and Washington, D.C., all competing to host predetermined rounds for 87 of the NCAA’s 90 championships. The respective NCAA sports committees selected the sites, with final approval from the divisional competition oversight and championships committees.

“The enthusiasm and interest from around the country to host NCAA championships continues to be a testament to the quality of our events,” said Lynda Tealer, NCAA senior vice president of championships, in a statement. “For this cycle, we incorporated more data into the process to help our sport and oversight committees through the evaluation and selection of sites as we had so many quality venues and locations looking to host during these two seasons.

“We will continue to evaluate and gather feedback on going from the traditional four-year cycle to awarding championship bids for two years to determine the right cadence for the bid process in the future.”

MEN’S HOCKEY
2027 Men’s Frozen Four
Washington, DC
Capital One Arena
Hosts: U.S. Naval Academy and Events DC

2027 Division I Regionals
Bridgeport, CT
Total Mortgage Arena
Hosts: Sacred Heart University and Total Mortgage Arena

2027 Division I Regionals
Loveland, CO
Blue Arena
Host: University of Denver

2027 Division I Regionals
Springfield, MA
MassMutual Center
Host: University of Massachusetts, Amherst

2027 & 2028 Division I Regionals
Fargo, ND
SCHEELS Arena
Host: University of North Dakota

2028 Men’s Frozen Four
Chicago, IL
United Center
Hosts: University of Denver and United Center

2028 Division I Regionals
Sioux Falls, SD
Denny Sanford PREMIER Center
Hosts: Augustana University (South Dakota) and Sioux Falls Sports Authority

2028 Division I Regionals
Allentown, PA
PPL Center
Hosts: Pennsylvania State University and PPL Center

2028 Division I Regionals
Rochester, NY
Blue Cross Arena
Hosts: Rochester Institute of Technology and Rochester NY Sports Commission

2028 Division III Finals
Middleton, WI
Bob Suter’s Legacy20 Arena Middleton
Hosts: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and Madison Area CVB
Note: The 2027 Division III finals will be awarded to a nonpredetermined host during the selection process that season.

WOMEN’S HOCKEY
2027 Women’s Frozen Four
Duluth, MN
AMSOIL Arena
Host: University of Minnesota Duluth

2028 Women’s Frozen Four
Fairfield, CT
Martire Family Arena
Host: Sacred Heart University

2027 Division III Finals
Plattsburgh, NY
Ronald B. Stafford Ice Arena
Host: Plattsburgh State University of New York
Note: The 2028 Division III finals will be awarded to a nonpredetermined host during the selection process that season.

The District has more trees, more bike share options and fewer carbon emissions than it had 10 years ago.

Along the Anacostia River, Oana Leahu Aluas is excited to talk about the progress D.C. has made in its 20 year goal to become more environmentally sustainable.

“We’re doing well on a lot of fronts,” said Leahu-Aluas of the D.C. Department of Energy and Environment.

Sustainable D.C. was launched 10 years ago, setting environmental goals to be reached by 2033. And Leahu-Aluas is smiling, knowing D.C. is ahead of schedule in many areas.

“Last year, Capitol Bikeshare had its biggest ridership in all of its history,” Leahu-Aluas said. “And we’ll see if that gets outdone this year.”

Another benchmark is the number of trees across the city.

“We do plant more than 10,000 trees every year,” Leahu-Aluas said. “And we also want to make sure that those trees are planted in the areas where they’re needed most. So areas without a lot of shade currently, areas where there’s extreme heat, a lot of asphalt really creating that urban heat island effect.”

And the District isn’t slowing down anytime soon.

“We’ve also gotten more funding coming in to plant more trees in specifically those types of areas,” Leahu-Aluas said.

With clear effects of climate change in the news as the death toll after Hurricane Helene climbs, it’s a reminder of how important sustainability efforts are.

“If you look at the climate section of our sustainable D.C. progress report, you’ll see accomplishments in areas like through our flood smart homes program, how people can get assessments to learn what they would need to install to make sure their homes are more flood proof,” Leahu-Aluas said.

While most of the goals in the Sustainable D.C. plan are on track, there are some areas where the District is behind schedule, like what we do with our trash. Leahu-Aluas says that’s where residents and businesses can help.

“We’re trying to recycle or compost 80% of the waste we generate away from landfills and incinerators. And right now we’re closer to 30%.”

Leahu-Aluas says one way people can help is by participating in programs, like the curbside compost collection program. Local farmers’ markets often have compost collection sites available to visitors, with more options on the way.

“There soon will be sites all around the city where people can drop off their compost 24-7,” Leahu-Aluas said. “And businesses can certainly initiate better recycling and composting programs as well. So that’s a place where people can really help.”

As for the big goal for D.C. and the entire U.S., reducing carbon emissions, the District is on track to reduce carbon emissions by 60% by the year 2030, three years ahead of schedule.