Washington Wizards and Capitals owner Ted Leonsis said at a conference on Wednesday that he would be interested in purchasing MLS’ D.C. United and MLB’s Washington Nationals. The current owners would have to be willing to sell, though.
Speaking at the Game Plan conference run by CNBC and Boardroom, Mr. Leonsis specified that he has a good relationship with the Lerners, who own the Nationals.
“It takes two to tango, and they aren’t ready to sell,” he said of the Lerner family, according to a report from NBC News.
The Lerners placed the Nationals on the market in 2022 but announced last year they’re not going to sell the franchise.
D.C. United fans have called on the soccer club’s ownership group — led by CEO Jason Levien — to sell the team following a slew of losing seasons.
It’s unclear if the MLS franchise is on the market, though Mr. Leonsis has expressed his interest in the franchise multiple times.
“I would buy the Nationals or the Orioles or D.C. United and put them onto one platform, put them on one network, have one big dataset, have one CFO, have one H.R. department,” he told Front Office Sports in May. “I mean, that’s what media and tech companies do.”
Mr. Leonsis has owned the Capitals since 1999 and the Wizards — along with the WNBA’s Mystics — since 2010. The billionaire said he has no interest in expanding his empire beyond the District.
“I think that would be a mistake,” he said on Wednesday of adding nonlocal teams to his portfolio.
The 68-year-old said he visited several Premier League soccer teams during a trip to England and considered bidding on Chelsea before changing his mind.
“I came home and said, ‘We can’t do this. This is so inauthentic.’ I didn’t play soccer. I’m not going to live in the neighborhood,” he said at the Game Plan conference. “[The fans] are going to kill me, and I’m not going to be able to add value.”
