http://voices.washingtonpost.com/local-breaking-news/leoniss-path-to-wizards-verizo.htmlApparently talks have hit a complete stall between Wizards majority owner Irene Pollin and minority owner Ted Leonsis's group regarding the total value of the Washington Wizards, Verizon Center, and the Ticketmaster DC franchise. We now see that the team may be worth as much as $900 million when you factor the building plus the ticketmaster franchise. That's a lot of dough. Leonsis and the Pollins apparently are about $100 million apart. Because the talks to this point have fallen through, the Pollin family can now take outside offers for the Wizards, but Leonsis's group, Lincoln Holdings can at
ANY POINT match those offers. So at this point, it is VERY unlikely that Leonsis isn't going to own the rest of the Wizards along with the Capitals (NHL) and the Mystics (WNBA). But still, this is a bump in the road, and we must discuss what could happen if Leonsis doesn't buy the remaining shares of the Wizards and the other goodies, such as the Verizon Center.
If Ted isn't owning an NBA, NHL, and a WNBA team, he could do either of these (I posted the scenarios)1. Leonsis may sell his stake of the Washington Wizards, Verizon Center, AND the Ticketmaster Franchise. He keeps the Caps and Mystics. There are some people in the Wizards and Capitals blogospheres who believe that he could build an arena in the suburbs (more likely in Fairfax County, or Loudoun County, VA where Dulles International Airport is if I had to guess. One other option is perhaps near National Harbor, in Oxon Hill, MD). The Caps already practice in Arlington in the top floor of a shopping mall. Really, they practice at a mall. The facility is pretty nice actually. This way, Leonsis would hopefully soon make money with the Capitals. Yes, the Mystics would in all likelihood, move to this new arena as well under this scenario. Leonsis has publicly said several times that he isn't folding them.
2. Leonsis could sell EVERYTHING SPORTS RELATED THAT HE OWNS as well to the new buyer of the Wizards. That means the new owner of the Wizards would have to cough up possibly up to a billion dollars, since this owner would own the Wizards, Capitals, Mystics, Verizon Center, and the Ticketmaster DC franchise, instead of Ted, a/k/a the Big Greek to do in the first place...
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So now I throw it onto you guys at RBT. Let's say Ted Leonsis says "Screw it, the Pollins are asking for too much", and you're willing to pay however much the Pollins want, and Leonsis sells you his share of the Wizards, and the entire stakes in the Capitals and Mystics. Now, you're the don of DC sports after Dan Snyder. Here are some big picture options you can do with each team which I can realistically see a new Wiz/Caps owner can do:
1. Sell the Washington Mystics to a third party. If you can't sell it, fold it.
No one talks much about the Mystics or the WNBA in terms of the sports scene in DC. But the Mystics are part of the Leonsis empire that you theoretically bought, and you will have to make a decision on them. No doubt that the Mystics players, staff and their season ticket holders are anxious about the possible ownership change. The new owner, or you, may not think they're worth your time and money. Just so you know, most WNBA franchises are estimated to be at around $10 million.
Pros of selling then folding if no one wants it: You aren't pissing off the "butch lesbian" or the feminazi communities at least immediately because I said "sell, then fold if you can't buy", not fold immediately. Second, the WNBA is not a mainstream league, and if you own the Caps (contending NHL team that you want to keep at the top with the Kobe/LeBron of Hockey - see my signature) and the Wizards (a historically moribund NBA team you want to get to the top). The WNBA is a niche league, and you're a mainstream guy. The WNBA will never be mainstream, and if you want to keep your priorities straight with the Caps and Wiz, selling the Mystics is a pretty viable option. Good chance Sheila Johnson, the current managing partner for the team (she is often referred as the Mystics owner, but she is really NOT), will buy it from you.
Cons: Here is a link to a long explanation why.But here it is in fewer sentences. Look, no mistake that some businesses and cities are suffering right now. Five WNBA teams either folded, moved, or almost went that route in the last three years. However, these were either bad markets for professional women's basketball in the first place, or the owners didn't know how to get fans in the seats, along with the horribly bad economies most of these cities were in. Washington is a basketball city at heart, as long as you see guys ballin' with heart, people will watch, and our economy is stabler than EVERY OTHER major city. DC led the WNBA in attendance for much of the 2000's, and yes we did it again this year averaging 11,338 a game (for the entire 2009 season) filling the 100 and 200 levels in the phone booth (upper level is closed for WNBA and Georgetown minus BIG games). Of the 11,338 who come per game, 6,500 are season ticket holders and I hear it's rising. That's more than ANY OTHER WNBA TEAM BY FAR. Kudos to their staff.
Also, the WNBA is a cheaper alternative to see a legit professional basketball game with great athletes without the ridiculously obscene prices. A Mystics courtside seat is $125.00 at the gate. For the Wizards, that same ticket is $849.00 at the gate. Hell, the Mystics get 11,000+ a game on average! The Wizards can't even get 11,000 to show up these days unless the Lakers or Celtics come.
So if it were me, I'd keep the Mystics, their team has a good foundation, and with a little luck, they can get to the Finals which accomplishes one of Leonsis' original missions with this team in the first place. I'm not saying that the Mystics are going to make us millions per year, but they're not going to cost you millions per year since you're not putting much into them as it is.
2. Kick out Ernie Grunfeld and/or Flip Saunders, Rebuild the team from scratch
Well, I think you know that the Caps are fine without much of your input besides your checks. But the Wizards need an AED, like stat.
Pros to kick out Ernie: He hired Gunbert Arenas, TWICE. He has not made many considerable moves over the last three years around a playoff contender that may have made the Wizards even better around a combination of Jamison, Butler, and Mr. Gunz. He was too fixated on keeping them all together. One big trade we could have made was to send Gilbert (maybe even send Daniels or DeShawn) to the Lakers for Kobe in the 2007-08 season. Arenas' value was sky high then, even though he had ONE surgery then. Kobe really wanted to leave the Lakers then, we could have snagged him, and no doubt Kobe and Antawn and Caron would have brought the Wizards at least one Finals appearance, if not better.
Cons to kick out Ernie: Ernie at least knows what he's doing on trades at least when we see them at the beginning. Getting rid of Kwame and sending him to the Lakers for Caron Butler was one of the best moves of the decade in franchise history. He got Antawn on draft day by sending Stackhouse and Devin Harris to the Mavs. He even knew Gil had potential to be big in 2003 to be the face of the franchise in the post MJ era. We're not going to find many good GM's who'd want to come here. The only one who may is Mitch Kupchak of the Lakers, because he was the Sixth man on the Wizards teams in the late '70's and got us a championship. But for god's sakes, he's the GM for the fucking Lakers!
Pros to kick out Flip: The team personnel just can't execute his offense right, though the defense isn't THAT bad anymore, we're average in opposing FG%age, but still horrendous at three point defense... Caron looks like he regressed in Flip's offense. Perhaps players already tuned him out because of the recent drama.
Cons to kick out Flip: He is the best coach to come here in decades. Who's gonna replace him? Best possible candidate is Lawrence Frank, who does use a playbook similar to Eddie's Princeton which allowed Caron and Gil to handle the ball and flourish. But I don't think Frank will come here. Maybe Patrick Ewing will get a crack, but in short, we're not going to get a guy with solid head coaching experience after this recent BS.
3. Keep the Wizards management and coaches, but rebuild.
Pros: We can get trade value for Antawn and Caron, perhaps Gil down the road. Flip gets a second chance to build a contender from the ground up like he did in Minnesota. We can get more expiring deals to help us get a Dr. Phil moment with LeBron and DeShawn sharing the backcourt or see Dwyane and Randy or Brendan and Chris in the front court. Remember, you're a new beginning for the Wizards.
Cons: Wizards have no one to build around, besides possibly Randy Foye if he can continue to improve, and maybe a FA pickup. We may have a starting lineup of Foye, Nick Young, Dominic McGuire, Andray Blatche, and JaVale McGee next season, or even in three weeks.... There's no championship out of that team because Nick is hot and cold, Dom can't play O, Andray is still sometimes a knucklehead and probably was the guy who said "we'll all be outta here anyway", and McGee tries to block more than defend. Well, I hope in three weeks I don't see a starting five WORSE than the one I mentioned....
4. Stay the course for the season for the Wizards
Pros: The team is losing a lot anyway, we're still likely to get a nice lotto pick. Not to mention most trade offers for Antawn and Caron are bad. Perhaps even Gilbert will play for the Wizards again and we can still build around him....
Cons: We could miss out on possible ways to get salary cap relief which could include signing LeBron and/or Dwyane and/or Chris if you can butt kiss them enough.
So there you go, you own three sports teams, the arena they call home, and the Ticketmaster DC franchise. Tell me what you would do with the Wizards and/or Mystics. Two givens here though:
1. The Wizards are NOT moving out of town - They already own their own arena and it's in good shape.
2. Do not change what the Caps are doing. So Ovie, Semin, Mike Green, and Backstrom stay with Coach Boudreau. They're the Cavs of the NHL right now! They just won EIGHT STRAIGHT AGAIN!!!! 5-1 over LA Ducks! Semin with TWO GOALS, OVIE WITH ANOTHER, plus 2 dimes!
LET'S GO CAPS!!! LET'S GO CAPS!!! LET'S GO CAPS!!!
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