Ted Leonsis already owns the Washington Capitals, Washington Wizards, and Washington Mystics. And, he now says he will make another run at purchasing the Washington Nationals from the Lerner family after having his previous offer for the MLB club rebuffed in late 2022.
Leonsis revealed his continued and active interest in buying the Nats during a radio spot with 106.7 The Fan’s The Sports Junkies on Tuesday morning. According to reporting by the Washington Post, Leonsis previously offered over $2 billion for the Nats but the latest update from the Lerners is that the team is not for sale.
“We’re very close partners with the Lerners so we have nothing but friendly relations but they’re business people, we’re business people,” Leonsis said Tuesday. “We will make a credible and strong offer and we’ll continue speaking. I’m very interested but there’s no rush. Their season just started. The Mystics’ season is starting tonight. We all have other pursuits and businesses and they’re not going anywhere and, obviously, I’m not going anywhere.”
Leonsis’s interest in the Nationals first popped up in mid-April of 2022. The founder, chairman, and CEO of Monumental Sports & Entertainment eventually formed a partnership with Carlyle Group co-founder, David Rubenstein. After the bid failed, Rubenstein led another group that purchased the Baltimore Orioles from the Angelos family in early 2024.
One apparent hurdle during negotiations was reportedly MASN – the Orioles’ media network — that owns the local television rights of both the O’s and the Nationals. The Orioles own over three-quarters of MASN (and by extension, the Nationals’ TV rights) in perpetuity as part of the agreement that allowed DC to land the Expos in 2005. With Leonsis’ former partner, Rubenstein, now in control of the Orioles, those stumbling blocks could potentially be cleared.
Leonsis also believes that the passing of the Lerner family figurehead, Ted Lerner, played a part in the family taking the team off the market. Mark Lerner, Ted’s son, announced this past February that the family had decided that it was “not the time or the place for [a sale].” The announcement came almost a year to the date of his father’s death.
“I don’t think it was just the offer,” Leonsis said. “I think there was a lot going on with the family. Ted Lerner was a giant in our community and he passed away during all of this. These are assets that are very emotionally attached to them and you understand the role it plays in the community. So, you need to be thoughtful about it. You need to be thoughtful about the purchase and you need to be thoughtful about deciding to sell it, how you sell it, and what you sell it for.
“There’s a lot that goes into the equation but we’ll do it in a very dignified and smart way. And, it’s possible that they say we don’t want to sell it, we changed our mind. People are allowed to change their mind.”
Leonsis’ primary aim for the purchase of the Nationals is the ability to provide compelling programming for Monumental Sports Network throughout the entire summer. MSE acquired the former NBC Sports Washington in August of 2022 and put the now in-house network through a full Monumental rebrand over the past year.
“I think that it makes a lot of sense for us in that we want to make Washington, DC the greatest city,” Leonsis said. “We want to make our network the most important local network and we need year-round programming. We need to have scale so that we can compete with the New Yorks and the LAs as a community. So, having winter programming – Caps and Wizards – and then summer programming – baseball team and a women’s basketball team.
“Owning the venues, I think we can compete, from a business and revenue standpoint, with those really big markets. And, in baseball, you need that. You need to have a big base of revenue to be able to afford putting great lineups out there – [and] you usually have to spend money to keep the great players. So, from a strategy standpoint, it makes sense.”
After seeing his proposed new Capitals-Wizards arena complex in Northern Virginia shot down by the Virginia state government a few months ago, Leonsis turned all his attention back to DC. The city and MSE came to terms on a $515 million deal in late March for the modernization of Chinatown’s Capital One Arena and parts of the building’s surrounding area.
Adding the Nationals to MSE’s ownership portfolio would only increase the amount of influence Leonsis has over the city. Outside of the Nationals, he has also mentioned his openness to bring a women’s hockey team to the nation’s capital and is part of spearheading a further revitalization of Chinatown.
