Washington Wizards: Ted Leonsis, beyond basketball and believing in Ward 8
Washington Wizards owner Ted Leonsis provided his insight on the Capital City Go-Go, and his vision to help make Ward 8 a thriving community.
In part two of their Off the Bench podcast, team owner Ted Leonsis gave a candid interview on the Washington Wizards new G League team, the Capital City Go-Go, its relationship to hockey, and the Ward 8 section of the District.
Capital City Go-Go and hockey
Leonsis believes that, one of the ‘traits of creativity or innovation is the ability to connect dots from other industries, and he encourages young people to have that balance.’ In addition to the Wizards, Monumental Sports & Entertainment also owns an NHL team, the Capitals. Although they don’t own an AHL team, there’s a real partnership between those teams.
The Caps’ AHL affiliate used to be in Maine. During the lockout, they announced a Caps’ rebuild, and that they would build around young players—Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Bakstrom, etc. The rebuild included building a new practice and training facility, that would be the envy of the league. They would also redo their AHL affiliate and make it strategic to their rebuild.
They would invest and choose the AHL affiliate coach. While the AHL coaches would communicate to NHL, using the same playbook and vocabulary. Thus, when a player came over to the NHL from the AHL, they would hit the ground running.
However, this symbiotic relationship wasn’t always available in the NBA. People used to wonder why the Wizards didn’t have a D League team. According to Leonsis, it didn’t have any value, because if every player is a free agent, and your affiliation is in North Dakota, then it’s hard to get value.
When the opportunity came up to build a new Wizards’ practice facility, that would also house the Mystics and a G League team within 10 miles of Capital One Arena, then that seemed like a game-changer.
Since Leonsis already has experience in the NHL and AHL, he’s going to encourage the NBA to look at what they did with the AHL. Since the AHL is considered the second best hockey league in the world.
NCAA and the G League
The NCAA has been the NBA’s development league, and the Wizards are lucky to have Georgetown play in Capital One Arena. Leonsis, a Georgetown alumni, and was also on their board for 12 years, stressed the importance of an education.
In their recruitment of players, they would tell them, “you will get a Georgetown education, because not everyone will make the NBA”. That’s what college sports was about. But now there are big programs that say, they will train you to be an NBA player, you will be on television all the time, play a system like the NBA, and it’s one-and-done.
Recently, he watched a cable program on the Sixers’ Ben Simmons, a former number one draft pick. He hardly went to any classes–it’s a joke. Why can’t they just say, this has nothing to do with college, it’s a way station. Leonsis believes, that there will be a new lens with which people view careers in basketball.
Why can’t we provide opportunities for fans, players and colleges, where a player wants to play basketball, they could play in the G League for a year.?Maybe that’s how the one-and-done could operate—if the player does well in the G League, then they could be drafted from there.
Regarding the draft, maybe it should go deeper, and be more than two rounds.
He would also like to see the NBA and NBA owners reconnect to women’s basketball. The WNBA should have a more prominent role.
Capital City Go-Go and a thriving Ward 8
The new arena which will house the Wizards’ practice facility, Capital City Go-Go and the Mystics, will be located in Ward 8 of Washington, D.C.
Leonsis recalls his student days at Georgetown, during the seventies. The school advised, enjoy Georgetown, see the monuments, but whatever you do, don’t go past 10th Street, N.W.
Although, there was a crack crisis that plagued D.C. at the time, former Wizards’ owner Abe Pollin had the foresight to give the city a chance. He built the Wizards’ stadium, now named Capital One Arena, on Seventh Street, N.W. Now there are high-end restaurants, and more and more people are living downtown.
Although the Wizards can’t take full credit, they helped uplift that part of the city, and was a catalyst for the area’s development.
Ward 8 is a distressed and forgotten part of the city. Some fans have asked, will it be safe to travel to that part of the city, and what’s the crime rate? Those are the same questions that were asked with MCI Center (Capital One Arena), years ago. People in the suburbs said, they weren’t going to attend games in downtown D.C., because it wasn’t safe.
Now Capital One Arena is the number one location for Uber pickups and drop offs, in the Mid-Altantic region. Twenty years ago, taxis wouldn’t even drop passengers there.
They envision a win-win opportunity in Ward 8. There will be criticism from people who never stepped foot in Ward 8. Leonsis asks, before someone writes about that area, have you ever been to Ward 8?
Nearby the planned facility is a STEM high school, and a convenience store. Instead of bottled water and milk, the store had three rows of candy. It’s the only place to shop within walking distance. GrubHub also won’t deliver there. Ward 8 is a food desert.
The practice facility is four miles from the Capitol, and three miles from the Nationals Stadium. D.C. spent $600 million to build Nats Stadium. Yet, there’s no place to shop for food.
Leonsis believes the new site will be central to the community, because there will be 200-300 jobs in building it. They will train people to man the arena jobs, and it will bring pride to the community.
The Wizards’ players will become part of the Anacostia community. The area just needs people to believe in it.
They are bringing an NBA, WNBA and G League franchise to the Ward 8. In addition, their management is also relocating there. Leonsis doesn’t want to hear from other businesses, ‘it’s not a safe community, and can’t support business’.
Monumental Sports, steward of the community
Monumental Sports has also agreed to be major philanthropists in the Ward 8 community. Homelessness, health, and education are all issues in that area. There are no outpatient clinics, so some of Monumental Sports’ partners will help out on that front.
Leonsis is also Chairman of DC-CAP (College Access Program), which works with DCTAG (federal government puts aside scholarship dollars for District students.)
Since D.C. is not a state, it doesn’t have a state school, whereby students can receive in-state tuition.
When a District student attends any of the nation’s public colleges and universities, the DCTAG award is “paid directly to the institution and is equal to the difference between the in-state and the out-of-state tuition.”
DC-CAP also has a scholarship plan of $15 million for Ward 7 and Ward 8 students. The idea is to improve the high school graduation rates for these communities, and college attendance.
The way the Wizards have embraced the Go-Go culture and the community, is a reminder that there’s a local city here, and not just the federal aspect. Sometimes that gets overlooked.
It’s clear that Ted Leonsis and the entire Wizards organization, embrace this community in the same manner they embrace the court—with a winning mentality.