Need something to talk about? Text us for thought-provoking opinions that can break any awkward silence.ArrowRight
But dry your eyes, D.C. residents, and take a look under the hood at what the city stands to lose.
Shortly after Hamas unleased mass slaughter in Israel on Oct. 7, Rep. Jack Bergman (R-Mich.); Jonathan Polin and Rachel Goldberg, parents of Hamas-hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin; and the Middle East Forum think tank all zeroed in on Leonsis and the National Hockey League’s significant financial intersection with the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA).
As Qatar was winning plaudits for helping secure the release of hostages in Gaza, the Qatari sovereign wealth fund — which is controlled by the royal family — was seeking to finalize its bid to buy 5 percent of the company that owns hockey’s Capitals and basketball’s Wizards. Qatar, of course, is also the country where the Hamas political headquarters are. By the Middle East Forum’s account, Qatar has provided an estimated $2.1 billion to Hamas since 2018, while allowing Hamas to use Qatari state media to promote antisemitic views.
Advertisement
Leonsis’s Monumental Sports & Entertainment announced its deal with the Qatari fund in July. In October, Monumental spokeswoman Anu Rangappa told the conservative Daily Wire that the deal could not be undone. In response to a question about Qatar’s support for Hamas, Rangappa said the agreement with the sovereign wealth fund is about the fan experience. “Have you ever been to Capital One Arena?” she asked. “Have you ever thought, why isn’t the food better here, or why is there sh---y lighting here? In order to do that, we need to find new partners.”
Follow this authorColbert I. King's opinionsFollow
Well, that’s not quite how Leonsis put it.
Leonsis told The Post that sovereign wealth funds are an untapped source of money. Unlike private equity or limited partnerships seeking immediate returns, he said, “a sovereign wealth fund invests directly — they have no time horizon. They want to invest and keep it over a long, long period of time.”
Advertisement
“I don’t view QIA as partners. I view them as investors,” Leonsis said. “I’m aligned with their investment philosophy, which is: ‘We believe in you, Ted, and Monumental management as managers, where you’re fiduciary to all of your partners to do the right things in the right way. And we are not involved.’”
It’s all about getting da‘ money. But it’s also all about “sportswashing.” That’s the name of the game for oil-rich but human-rights-deficient Middle East autocracies that buy stakes in popular Western sports operations to spruce up their images. Saudi Arabia has bought its way into professional golf via its Public Investment Fund. The United Arab Emirates’ Mubadala Investment Company enjoys an arrangement with Washington’s MDE Sports and the Citi Open tennis tournament. Those gulf states, with their well-documented records of human rights oppression, especially against women and people in the LGBTQ community, have laundered their way into the good graces — and pockets — of investment-hungry sports magnates in the West.
That is the way of the world in 2023.
Advertisement
And so, too, in Washington, where Leonsis — enriched to the tune of an estimated $200 million in Qatari money and grooving with visions of his Monumental flourishing in a new 12-acre-sports and entertainment complex across the Potomac in Virginia — can be imagined softly kissing the District on the cheek and whispering in our ears, “bye, bye baby — good-bye.”
D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) is taking her lumps for not coming up with proposals lucrative enough to persuade Leonsis to keep the two teams downtown at Capital One Arena. After all, critics say, Bowser had time. Didn’t Leonsis let it be known months ago that he wanted the 20,000-seat arena upgraded? Indeed so. Bowser said she couldn’t come up with the money until the chief financial officer’s assessment of the city’s debt situation allowed for refinancing to make Leonsis a $500 million offer. It wasn’t enough.
Leonsis not only needed cash to make Monumental the envy of the sports and entertainment world. He needed land — and lots of it.
Advertisement
Maybe if Bowser had thrown the RFK Stadium complex into the deal, Leonsis might have given D.C. a second look. But Youngkin offered Leonsis what Bowser, hoping to use the RFK site to lure the Washington Commanders back to town, couldn’t or wouldn’t. She wanted all four of the major U.S. sports in D.C. hands.
But is all of this really such bad news?
Lest we forget, bringing back a National Football League team comes with a price.
Former Commanders owner Daniel Snyder had stars in his eyes as he mused about returning his NFL team from FedEx Field in Landover. Snyder envisioned a moat-surrounded, state-of-the-art stadium anchored in a sprawling entertainment and commercial district — much of it under his control — with the District shelling out hundreds of millions for infrastructure development.
Advertisement
The city has gotten along relatively well since the NFL team fled in 1997, hasn’t it?
The Leonsis bug-out may be a blessing in disguise. Consider this an opportunity for the city to right-size its dreams and aspirations based upon a realistic assessment of the basic strengthens — which are considerable — and marketing opportunities that come with being the nation’s capital. Besides, who wants to be Las Vegas or the Big Apple?
Share Comments
Popular opinions articles
HAND CURATED
- Opinion|Could the local news crisis get any worse? Look at Scranton.December 14, 2023Opinion|Could the local news crisis get any worse? Look at Scranton.December 14, 2023
- Opinion|Cheering Hamas on campus, too uneducated to grasp how grotesque that isDecember 13, 2023Opinion|Cheering Hamas on campus, too uneducated to grasp how grotesque that isDecember 13, 2023
- Opinion|My Trump interview had a purpose: Giving Latinos a chance to hear himDecember 13, 2023Opinion|My Trump interview had a purpose: Giving Latinos a chance to hear himDecember 13, 2023
View 3 more stories
Loading...
The glee that majority sports-team owner Ted Leonsis and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) showed Wednesday over their quietly concocted $2 billion agreement to move the Washington Capitals and Wizards to Alexandria is matched by weeping and wailing in the District.
But dry your eyes, D.C. residents, and take a look under the hood at what the city stands to lose.
Shortly after Hamas unleased mass slaughter in Israel on Oct. 7, Rep. Jack Bergman (R-Mich.); Jonathan Polin and Rachel Goldberg, parents of Hamas-hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin; and the Middle East Forum think tank all zeroed in on Leonsis and the National Hockey League’s significant financial intersection with the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA).
As Qatar was winning plaudits for helping secure the release of hostages in Gaza, the Qatari sovereign wealth fund — which is controlled by the royal family — was seeking to finalize its bid to buy 5 percent of the company that owns hockey’s Capitals and basketball’s Wizards. Qatar, of course, is also the country where the Hamas political headquarters are. By the Middle East Forum’s account, Qatar has provided an estimated $2.1 billion to Hamas since 2018, while allowing Hamas to use Qatari state media to promote antisemitic views.
Leonsis’s Monumental Sports & Entertainment announced its deal with the Qatari fund in July. In October, Monumental spokeswoman Anu Rangappa told the conservative Daily Wire that the deal could not be undone. In response to a question about Qatar’s support for Hamas, Rangappa said the agreement with the sovereign wealth fund is about the fan experience. “Have you ever been to Capital One Arena?” she asked. “Have you ever thought, why isn’t the food better here, or why is there sh---y lighting here? In order to do that, we need to find new partners.”
Well, that’s not quite how Leonsis put it.
Leonsis told The Post that sovereign wealth funds are an untapped source of money. Unlike private equity or limited partnerships seeking immediate returns, he said, “a sovereign wealth fund invests directly — they have no time horizon. They want to invest and keep it over a long, long period of time.”
“I don’t view QIA as partners. I view them as investors,” Leonsis said. “I’m aligned with their investment philosophy, which is: ‘We believe in you, Ted, and Monumental management as managers, where you’re fiduciary to all of your partners to do the right things in the right way. And we are not involved.’”
It’s all about getting da‘ money. But it’s also all about “sportswashing.” That’s the name of the game for oil-rich but human-rights-deficient Middle East autocracies that buy stakes in popular Western sports operations to spruce up their images. Saudi Arabia has bought its way into professional golf via its Public Investment Fund. The United Arab Emirates’ Mubadala Investment Company enjoys an arrangement with Washington’s MDE Sports and the Citi Open tennis tournament. Those gulf states, with their well-documented records of human rights oppression, especially against women and people in the LGBTQ community, have laundered their way into the good graces — and pockets — of investment-hungry sports magnates in the West.
That is the way of the world in 2023.
And so, too, in Washington, where Leonsis — enriched to the tune of an estimated $200 million in Qatari money and grooving with visions of his Monumental flourishing in a new 12-acre-sports and entertainment complex across the Potomac in Virginia — can be imagined softly kissing the District on the cheek and whispering in our ears, “bye, bye baby — good-bye.”
D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) is taking her lumps for not coming up with proposals lucrative enough to persuade Leonsis to keep the two teams downtown at Capital One Arena. After all, critics say, Bowser had time. Didn’t Leonsis let it be known months ago that he wanted the 20,000-seat arena upgraded? Indeed so. Bowser said she couldn’t come up with the money until the chief financial officer’s assessment of the city’s debt situation allowed for refinancing to make Leonsis a $500 million offer. It wasn’t enough.
Leonsis not only needed cash to make Monumental the envy of the sports and entertainment world. He needed land — and lots of it.
Maybe if Bowser had thrown the RFK Stadium complex into the deal, Leonsis might have given D.C. a second look. But Youngkin offered Leonsis what Bowser, hoping to use the RFK site to lure the Washington Commanders back to town, couldn’t or wouldn’t. She wanted all four of the major U.S. sports in D.C. hands.
But is all of this really such bad news?
Lest we forget, bringing back a National Football League team comes with a price.
Former Commanders owner Daniel Snyder had stars in his eyes as he mused about returning his NFL team from FedEx Field in Landover. Snyder envisioned a moat-surrounded, state-of-the-art stadium anchored in a sprawling entertainment and commercial district — much of it under his control — with the District shelling out hundreds of millions for infrastructure development.
The city has gotten along relatively well since the NFL team fled in 1997, hasn’t it?
The Leonsis bug-out may be a blessing in disguise. Consider this an opportunity for the city to right-size its dreams and aspirations based upon a realistic assessment of the basic strengthens — which are considerable — and marketing opportunities that come with being the nation’s capital. Besides, who wants to be Las Vegas or the Big Apple?
login
who are we?
contact us
qosheapp
Toi Staff
Gideon Levy
Belen Fernandez
Andrew Mitrovica
Mort Laitner
Rami G Khouri
Ali Fathollah-Nejad
Nikkei Editorial
visit website
