Ted Leonsis has emerged as a potential suitor in the ongoing sales process involving the Nationals, according to a report from Barry Svrluga, Ben Strauss and Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post. Leonsis’ Monumental Sports & Entertainment is already a major factor in the D.C. sports scene, owning the NBA’s Wizards, the NHL’s Capitals and the WNBA’s Mystics.
According to the Post, Leonsis is one of a few potential buyers granted access to the Nationals financial data. He’s not making a run at sole ownership, however; Drew Hansen of the Washington Business Journal reports that David Rubenstein, a private equity businessman, is part of the group with Leonsis. It isn’t clear who else is involved with Leonsis and Rubenstein.
The Leonsis group becomes the third known potential suitors for the Nationals. Since the Lerner family announced in April they were exploring the possibility of a sale, the Post has reported that South Korean equity mogul Michael B. Kim and mortgage executive Stanley Middleman have each met with Nationals personnel. Whether Leonsis and Rubenstein have also formally met with Nationals executives yet isn’t known. The Post has reported that at least five potential bidders have met with the Lerners in recent weeks, so it’s not a given that any of the three publicly-known suitors will wind up submitting the winning bid.
The Lerner family has stopped short of making a firm declaration it’d pull the trigger on a sale, although it’s generally expected they’ll do so. The Post writes that the process could be finalized shortly after the conclusion of the season, with potential ratification of a sale taking place at the owners meetings in November. The Nationals are one of two franchises that could soon change hands, as Angels owner Arte Moreno announced yesterday he was looking into the possibility of selling the Anaheim organization as well.
AndreTheGiantKiller
A businesman named Middleman made me chuckle
marcfrombrooklyn
He really should be in the mortgage brokerage business and not the mortgage business. I guess he wouldn’t let him name limit his career.
baseballpun
Leonsis can bring some of that Wizards magic to the Nats.
Rsox
Not even Wizards or Mystics are going to be able to help this team be competitive any time soon
619bird
You better hope he brings some Caps magic. This isn’t Hogwarts or Slytherin.
kodiak920
Anyone buying Washington better have an idea on what to do about MASN.
ctyank7
MASN and it’s stranglehold on Nats TV rights, is a reason why the incoming ownership will likely attempt to move the franchise out of DC.
Buying out the $50 million left on the lease is cheap when a club sells for three billion or more.
LordD99
Zero chance the Nats move from DC if the Leonis and Rubenstein group purchase the Nats. They are completely Washington DC politically based. Just yesterday, Leonis’ holding company purchased the remaining 67% stake in the NBC Sports Washington regional sports network from Comcast. He owned the other 33% prior. Not a coincidence. He’s building an RSN and streaming powerhouse with a lock on Washington sports. They just outmaneuvered the other bidders for the Nats.
LordD99
…and, btw, I’m not ignoring the “in perpetuity” agreement the O’s have on Nats broadcast rights with the current RSN. I’m making an educated guess that the new owners of the Nats will make it worth the O’s and buy out the deal. Money flows upfront in these deals and that’s the time for the O’s to strike a nice deal that will be quite beneficial to the Angelos family.
Samuel
There are similarities in both the MASN situation and the Oakland situation…….
Two franchises moved into territories that were in proximity to two existing franchises, thereby taking away some of their fans and revenue (Giants) or a lot of their fans and revenue (Orioles). To do so those franchise owners were happy to make agreements to cushion the revenue loss by: a) staying within a small physical area (A’s); or b) allowing the old franchise to receive a major piece of the broadcast rights (Nationals). Then – like the federal government does – once that door was open they started screaming that the agreement was impossible to live with and unjust so it should be changed. Unfortunately, private businesses cannot make laws to benefit themselves at the expense of others, and the Orioles and Giants rightfully refuse to give up what was agreed to.
All the recent talk about expansion and/or moving MLB franchises within the continental US ignores the fact that the same situation will present itself – a franchise going into an area that an existing franchise has the rights to. Stay tuned.
Samuel
Understand that MLB owners are in fact partners with one another. If a precedent is set whereby a franchise can move into an existing franchises territory in which there are financial agreements made to continuously make up for the lost revenue stream, then the financial agreements are later changed without the original franchises owners agreeing to it, this threatens ALL existing MLB ownership groups.
drewnats33
Once again: Washington owes nothing to Baltimore. The St. Louis Browns only moved to Baltimore because Washington’s owner looked the other way.
drewnats33
Uncle Ted and Rubenstein are an encouraging pairing. They’re well known in the Washington area, accomplished, and generous in their philanthropy. They’re wedded to Washington. They’re not going anywhere else.
Samuel
drewnats33;
Right.
Which is why the Commissioners Office and the other owners (partners) approved of the Expos move to DC and why the new owners of the renamed franchise approved the deal……..because “Washington owes nothing to Baltimore”.
Are you from DC? It appears to the rest of America that people there make it up as they go along.
Samuel
According to IRS statistics, the 5 wealthiest counties by income in America surround Washington, DC. And why not? They print the money and give themselves, family’s and friends high paying, guaranteed jobs. Never have a recession. If there’s a dispute and people are temporarily out of work, when they come back they get paid every cent in full even though they didn’t work. No where else in America does this occur,
So not only does it have a wealthy fan base that can afford to support sports teams, government agencies even use taxpayers money to purchase tickets and reimburse for parking and other expenses to employees that can use said tickets.
Why in the world would any owner move a franchise from a gravy train like that one?
drewnats33
Yes, I’m from Washington. I realize the owners approved the Expos’ move to Washington.
I just chafe at the idea that Washington should be forever grateful to Baltimore – and be hijacked in perpetuity in the MASN deal – when Washington’s venerable franchise made the Orioles’ existence possible.
oi0ewt98er
And a lot of government employees are forced to attend games or they’re often fired.
basquiat
@Save: And you know this how? Where do you hear such nonsense?
Rsox
MLB isn’t letting the Nationals leave DC any time soon, especially with the ongoing stadium situations in Oakland and Tampa Bay. Manfred wants expansion, not relocation and he’s not going to lose a potential site for expansion/or relocation of the A’s/Rays should their stadium situations not resolve for a team that has no reason to leave other than a bad tv deal
TradeAcuna
I hope they give the Nationals relevance again, similar to the WNBA mystics.
rememberthecoop
The Nats are up against an exciting, upstart team in Baltimore that has a bright future as well as a hopeful present. They already have a good team, with reinforcements such as Grayson and Gunner about ready.
Rsox
Nats won a championship as recently as 2019, the Orioles haven’t played in a World Series since 1983, what is happening with the Nats right now has less to do with relevance and more to do with Lerner shedding payroll to make the team more attractive for sale.
Dorothy_Mantooth
If they could only force the owner of Oakland to sell as well, there would be enough teams to go around for all of the Nationals’ suitors. Someone with a commitment to winning needs to purchase the A’s and move them out of Oakland ASAP. Even if they get their waterfront stadium approved, they won’t draw enough fans over the long run to make it worthwhile. The Oakland market is not a good market for professional sports franchises. They failed with the Raiders (twice) and then failed with the Warriors too. The A’s had an announced attendance of 2,000 fans the other night; that is shameful for a city the size of Oakland. There’s no doubt that Oakland has a lot of baseball fans; they just either don’t want to attend games in person or can’t afford to attend games in person. They would probably draw well in the first season with a shiny new ballpark, but they won’t sustain that level of attendance once the novelty wears off, especially if they put a poor product on the field. Ticket prices at the new stadium will be a lot more expensive too.
theodore glass
And you know all of that based on what? No wonder people don’t like Boston.
Rsox
Apparently the A’s have a “mile high club” in the Outfield bleachers, so i guess there’s that.
wayneroo
I saw that yesterday. I guess there isn’t much else to do at an A’s game.
Pads Fans
The A’s are not moving. Market size is why. The Bay Area teams (Giants and A’s) own both the San Francisco/Berkeley/Oakland/San Jose metro area with its 4..7 million in population and 2.6 million TV homes (6th largest TV market), they also own the Sacramento metro with its 2.4 million in population and 1.46 million TV homes (20th largest TV market).
The A’s have allowed all the options on property they had in Las Vegas to lapse because they never intended to move. They used that as leverage against Oakland. ALL the governmental agencies involved in Oakland have approved the stadium. All of them.
Deliberations in the 1st two lawsuits that were filed within the time frame allowed by state law were both already completed and we are just waiting for the ruling to be released. They were based on procedural issues, not issues of fact, and have to be decided within 270 days of the final EIR, so a final ruling must be released by November 25th.
A 3rd one was filed in early August by a coalition led by the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association, which was a party to one of the original 2 lawsuits. This one claims that San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC), failed to properly review the final EIR submitted by the Oakland City Council (OCC). It is destined to be dismissed.
The bottom line is the A’s are staying in Oakland.
User 2079935927
The A’s are drawing 2K is because of
#1The roster is AAA+
#2 The ball park is a absolute dump.
#3 They might move to Vegas
shall I go on?
oi0ewt98er
Actually the funniest and most fun stadium in MLB- the last of the garbage stadiums.
kodiak920
Please do…
LordD99
They purposely picked this year to completely tank the team, driving down attendance to negotiate a deal with Oakland or to use it as an excuse if they leave. My bet remains that the A’s stay in Oakland.
jekporkins
It’s true. They traded everyone AND raised ticket/concession/parking prices 40%. It’s right there in your face. I live near there and would never give them a cent of my money and I certainly don’t see a lot of A’s hats anywhere.
oi0ewt98er
Still the best stadium in baseball from a humor/fun perspective.
Rsox
The Vegas narrative is over played. Unless the the Raiders stadium can be configured for Baseball and that Raiders are willing to let them play there there is zero chance the Vegas tax payers are footing the bill for another billion dollar stadium so soon after just building one.
Pads Fans
They won’t move to Las Vegas because of market size. It would take away 3 million potential eyeballs on the TV screen and twice that in population base.
The stadium is approved by all the governmental agencies. Now its about the inevitable lawsuits. Those should be completed this year. That leaves 2 years to build the stadium before the lease at Oakland Country Coliseum is over at the end of the 2024 season.
AverageCommenter
I’m not super familiar with the team, but I when to the stadium, and it was super nice. Fenway and Camden are my favorites I’ve been to, but that’s definitely third. Rogers is fourth and the Trop is a distant fifth.
rxbrgr
Hmmm the Nats being run like the Wizards… gear up for some decades of mediocrity fans.
drewnats33
Leonsis won a title with the Caps.
DBH1969
I’d like to see MLB purchase these 2 teams and just close the franchises. I think we have too many team now.
Rsox
Contraction is not happening. We went through this almost 20 years ago, it didn’t happen then, it won’t happen now.
Pads Fans
You are going to be EXTREMELY disappointed when 2 teams are added within the next 5 years.
Pads Fans
Mark Lerner is a partner of Leonsis. Interesting news.