Ted Leonsis, the proprietor of Washington’s NBA, NHL and WNBA franchises, has emerged as a suitor for the Washington Nationals, a number of folks aware of the method mentioned Tuesday.
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Ted Leonsis emerges as a Nationals suitor as his Monumental media empire grows
The information of Leonsis’s official curiosity within the Nationals got here on the identical day Monumental introduced it was buying NBC Sports activities Washington, the regional sports activities community that broadcasts Wizards and Capitals video games. Monumental acquired a one-third stake in NBC Sports activities Washington from Comcast in 2016.
Requested in an interview Tuesday about his household’s curiosity within the Nationals, Zach Leonsis — Monumental’s president of media and new enterprises and Ted’s son — mentioned it was “not acceptable to remark.”
It’s unclear whether or not Ted Leonsis would be capable to buy the Nationals — valued by Forbes at $2 billion, the Twelfth-highest determine among the many 30 MLB groups — on his personal or whether or not he has enlisted exterior traders. Mark Lerner, the Nationals’ managing principal proprietor and son of household patriarch Ted Lerner, is a minority associate in Monumental.
At the least 5 potential bidders have met with Nationals officers, one other key step along with analyzing the group’s funds. Billionaire Michael B. Kim, whose non-public fairness agency manages greater than $25 billion in property, met this summer time with group officers at Nationals Park. Mortgage mogul Stanley Intermediary has additionally met with group personnel. It’s not recognized if Leonsis has formally met with Nationals officers.
Folks aware of the method consider a sale could possibly be accomplished by the top of the yr, presumably in time for the brand new group to be accredited at baseball’s homeowners conferences in November. The Lerner household has left open the potential of retaining possession or merely bringing on further companions. Los Angeles Angels proprietor Arte Moreno introduced Tuesday he’s additionally exploring promoting his group, which ranks narrowly above the Nationals within the Forbes valuations.
In the meantime, by buying NBC Sports activities Washington — which owns the printed rights for the Wizards and Capitals — the Leonsis household’s sprawling leisure conglomerate will enhance its sway over the D.C. sports activities market. Monumental Sports activities additionally owns the Mystics, the NBA G League’s Go-Go and the NBA 2K League’s Wizards District Gaming.
Ted Leonsis has lengthy had a eager curiosity within the media facet of the sports activities enterprise. He’s a member of the homeowners’ media committees for the NBA and NHL and is a vocal advocate for legalized sports activities playing, opening a sportsbook at Capital One Area, the primary inside a U.S. skilled sports activities enviornment. The Wizards have experimented with an alternate TV broadcast centered on playing, and Zach Leonsis mentioned he was interested by extra alternate feeds, citing the instance of Peyton and Eli Manning on “Monday Evening Soccer.”
“Essentially, we consider within the worth of our reside native rights,” Zach Leonsis mentioned. “Lots has been product of the [regional sports network] ecosystem, however we’re sturdy believers that the worth of the rights continues to extend. It’s strategic to personal our personal future as we search to innovate.”
He mentioned Monumental, which additionally owns a streaming platform that broadcast the majority of the Mystics schedule this season, was interested by exploring direct-to-consumer streaming choices for Wizards and Capitals video games that would give followers and not using a cable subscription entry to them.
The cope with Comcast is anticipated to shut in roughly 30 days. Comcast will stay a strategic associate, serving to with distribution of the community for not less than the following yr.
How Monumental’s media pursuits dovetail with Ted Leonsis’s curiosity within the Nationals stays to be seen. The Mid-Atlantic Sports activities Community owns the tv broadcast rights for the Baltimore Orioles and Nationals. The community has been a permanent level of competition between the franchises, resulting in a decades-long authorized dispute about rights charges. The community is managed by the Orioles as a part of an accord reached between Main League Baseball and the Angelos household, which owns the Orioles, when the Nationals relocated to the District.
Any would-be proprietor of the Nationals must attain a cope with the Orioles to realize management of the Nationals’ native tv rights.
NBC Sports activities Washington has at all times had programming gaps in the course of the summer time months with out reside basketball and hockey, and there was curiosity from followers and media executives in getting the Wizards, Capitals, Nationals and Orioles on the identical community. Roughly a decade in the past, Comcast had discussions with the Orioles and Nationals about shopping for MASN, however a deal was by no means accomplished.