The rich guy who convinced Glenn Youngkin to build him a $2 billion arena in Northern Virginia says he still wants to buy the Washington Nationals.
“I’ve told employees; I’ve told the Lerner family: ‘We are very interested. And we will figure out the right time and place to come with a thoughtful, dignified, real offer,’” billionaire Ted Leonsis told The Washington Post this week.
Leonsis already owns the Washington Wizards NBA franchise and the Washington Capitals NHL franchise, and Monumental Sports & Entertainment, the regional sports network that airs the two franchises’ games.
Leonsis, in 2023, put a $2 billion offer to the current owners of the Nationals MLB franchise, the Lerner family, telling the Post that the move “really does make sense from a business standpoint for Monumental Sports,” giving the network a reliable source of summer programming.
The Lerners began exploring a sale in 2022, but Mark Lerner, the franchise’s managing partner, said in February that the team was no longer for sale, though the Post reported this week that the family would be open to considering selling after the 2024 season if a bidder would surface.
In case you’re wondering about how flush Leonsis is, given that he was trying to rake Virginia taxpayers over the coals to get a new arena built, before being rebuffed by the Virginia General Assembly, then having to turn to Washington, D.C., which offered him $500 million to spruce up the Capital One Arena, that’s just rich people using other people’s money to make more money for themselves.
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Chris Graham
