Monumental Sports & Entertainment[edit]
Leonsis is the founder, majority owner, chairman and CEO of Monumental Sports & Entertainment, which owns the NBA's Washington Wizards, NHL's Washington Capitals and theWNBA's Washington Mystics. Monumental Sports additionally owns the Verizon Center in Washington D.C.[19] and manages the Kettler Capitals Iceplex and George Mason University's Patriot Center.[20] Formed in 2010, Monumental Sports & Entertainment is the only privately held company in a top-10 market to own and operate three professional sports teams and its arena.[21] In January 2013 Monumental Sports & Entertainment launched Monumental Network, a digital platform that serves as a hub for Washington's sports and entertainment news.[22]
- Management
Leonsis has a "hands on" approach to management of his sports teams.[23] After purchasing the Wizards, Leonsis criticized the NBA's salary cap at a luncheon with business leaders. He was fined $100,000 by the league, for "unauthorized public comments regarding the league's collective bargaining negotiations."[24] Leonsis has sought to roll-back changes to the Wizards and Capitals franchises that coincided with the opening of the Verizon Center in 1997. In 2007, he changed the Capitals team logo and its colors back to their original red, white, and blue, and in May 2011, received positive responses from media, fans, players and alumni when the Wizards unveiled a similar red, white and blue color scheme, along with uniforms reminiscent of those worn by the team under their former name, the Bullets, when they won the NBA Championship in 1978.[25] Additionally, he had taken under consideration restoring the Bullets name to the franchise,[26] though critics said that this would "send the wrong message" about gun violence in Washington.[27]
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