The warning signs were everywhere for years, but they only look like warnings after disaster. Buying the team’s media outlets. Asking for public money to renovate the stadium. Accepting investment money from sovereign wealth funds. Sanitizing the game day experience with higher priced tickets and sponsored segments.
For decades as the owner of the Washington Capitals, Wizards, and Mystics, Ted Leonsis cultivated an image as being a different kind of sports owner. Every public appearance included Leonsis talking about the importance of community. In his lectures at Georgetown University and in interviews, he often spoke of a “double bottom line:” a concept of making a profit and doing so in a way that helps the community.