A prominent local name has joined the pool of potential buyers for the hometown baseball franchise. The Washington Post reported Tuesday Ted Leonsis—the billionaire owner of the Wizards, Caps, and Mystics—has expressed interest in purchasing at least a portion of the Nationals. Leonsis was recently permitted to view the National’s internal financial records, which would help him to determine whether or not a deal would make economic sense.
The family of current Nationals owner Ted Lerner said this spring that it was considering selling part or all of the baseball team. According to the Post, Leonsis is one of a handful of would-be buyers to express interest in the team. Billionaire investor Michael B. Kim and mortgage-lending magnate Stanley Middleman have each met with Nationals executives, reported the Post.
Still, Leonsis is the highest-profile local suitor for the Nats to surface so far. A deal for part or all of the team would only further his standing among the most powerful business moguls in the city. In addition to controlling three major DC sports franchises, Leonsis’s company, Monumental Sports & Entertainment, announced Tuesday that it had reached an agreement to buy all of NBC Sports Washington, the local sports network in which it previously owned a 33 percent stake.
Luke Mullins is a senior writer at Washingtonian magazine focusing on the people and institutions that control the city’s levers of power. He has written about the Koch Brothers’ attempt to take over The Cato Institute, David Gregory’s ouster as moderator of NBC’s Meet the Press, the collapse of Washington’s Metro system, and the conflict that split apart the founders of Politico.
