Ted Leonsis, the owner of the Washington Capitals and Monumental Sports & Entertainment, shocked many of his workers on Monday with an exorbitant gift. On top of giving away Capitals championship rings to players, coaches, staff, Leonsis will give away approximately 500 rings to employees of MSE.
The news was first reported by the Washington Post’s Scott Allen.
According to Allen, every full-time employee who worked at MSE on June 7 received an email on Monday announcing their new bling. The MSE employees will be fitted for the ring this week and their new jewelry will arrive later in the fall.
This gift follows Leonsis’s nice deed in June where he surprised 200 MSE employees with a trip to Las Vegas to attend one of the Caps’ Stanley Cup Final games.
Leonsis isn’t the first NHL owner to give championship rings to his employees. Mario Lemiuex and Ron Burkle of the Pittsburgh Penguins gave around 150 arena employees Cup rings after the team’s 2016-17 championship.
The practice is becoming a regular occurrence in the other three major sports as well.
It’s become common for owners to recognize the contributions of non-players, coaches and front office personnel with championship rings. … In 2016, Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert arranged for more than 1,000 full and part-time employees of the team and Quicken Loans Arena to receive rings after LeBron James led Cleveland to its first NBA title. Astros owner Jim Crane gave out roughly 1,100 World Series rings to people connected with his organization last year.
Popular figures who would qualify for one of these rings presumably include radio voice of the Capitals John Walton and public address announcer Wes Johnson.
While renderings of the Caps ring aren’t available yet, one fan design is available at foxrings.com.
In the past, Jostens has made replicas of the Pittsburgh Penguins championship rings for fans as well.
Headline photo: Bruce Bennett
