The news of Leonsis’s official curiosity within the Nationals got here on the identical day Monumental announced it was buying NBC Sports Washington, the regional sports activities community that broadcasts Wizards and Capitals video games. Monumental acquired a one-third stake in NBC Sports Washington from Comcast in 2016.
Asked in an interview Tuesday about his household’s curiosity within the Nationals, Zachary Leonsis — Monumental’s president of media and new enterprises and Ted’s son — stated it was “not appropriate to comment.”
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 outdoors traders. Mark Lerner, the Nationals’ managing principal proprietor and son of household patriarch Ted Lerner, is a minority companion in Monumental.
At least 5 potential bidders have met with Nationals officers, one other key step along with inspecting the group’s funds. Billionaire Michael B. Kim, whose non-public fairness agency manages greater than $25 billion in property, met this summer season with group officers at Nationals Park. Mortgage mogul Stanley Middleman has additionally met with group personnel. It just isn’t recognized if Leonsis has formally met with Nationals officers.
People conversant in the method consider a sale could possibly be accomplished by the tip of the 12 months, probably 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 extra companions. Los Angeles Angels proprietor Arte Moreno introduced Tuesday that he’s additionally exploring promoting his group, which ranks narrowly above the Nationals within the Forbes valuations.
Meantime, by buying NBC Sports Washington — which at the moment owns the published rights for the Wizards and Capitals — the Leonsis household’s sprawling leisure conglomerate will improve its sway over the D.C. sports activities market. Monumental Sports 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 is a member of the homeowners’ media committees for the NHL and NBA and is a vocal advocate for legalized sports activities playing, opening a sportsbook at Capital One Arena, the primary inside a U.S. skilled sports activities area. The Wizards have experimented with an alternate TV broadcast centered on playing, and Zachary Leonsis stated he was concerned with extra alternate feeds, citing the instance of Peyton and Eli Manning on Monday Night Football.
“Fundamentally, we believe in the value of our live local rights,” Zach Leonsis stated within the interview. “A lot has been made of the [regional sports network] ecosystem, but we are strong believers that the value of the rights continues to increase. It’s strategic to own our own destiny as we seek to innovate.”
He stated Monumental, which additionally owns a streaming platform that broadcast the bulk of the Mystics schedule this season, was concerned with exploring direct-to-consumer streaming choices for Wizards and Capitals video games that might give followers and not using a cable subscription entry to them.
The take care of Comcast is anticipated to shut in round 30 days. Comcast will stay a strategic companion, serving to with distribution of the community for no less than the following 12 months.
How Monumental’s media pursuits dovetail with Ted Leonsis’s curiosity within the Nationals stays to be seen. The Mid-Atlantic Sports Network at the moment owns the tv broadcast rights for the Baltimore Orioles and Nationals. The community has been an everlasting level of competition between the 2 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 Major 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 take care of the Orioles to realize management of the Nationals’ native tv rights.
NBC Sports Washington has at all times had programming gaps through the summer season months with out reside basketball and hockey, and there was curiosity from each followers and media executives in getting the Capitals, Wizards, Nationals and Orioles on the identical community. Around 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.