Leonsis To Buy The Wiz?

Wizardspride · Post #1 » by **Wizardspride** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 10:26 pm

Take this with a grain of salt but I just read on another
message board that Pollin will transfer ownership of the
Wiz to Leonsis this summer. I'm not putting much
stock in this but I'm just throwing it out there...

Soup's Uncle · Post #2 » by **Soup's Uncle** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 10:52 pm

I've always heard that Leonsis get the team after Abe. Maybe he won't be affraid to go into the luxury tax a little to give us some frickin breathing room.

no D in Hibachi · Post #3 » by **no D in Hibachi** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 10:53 pm

Great news! Sad to see ole' Abe step down, but great to see Leonsis take over. He's shown the willingness to pay for a contender, i.e. Jagr with the Caps. I think he's the best sports owner in Washington, as tough as that is to be...

Post #4 » by **Rafael122** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 10:59 pm

God, he's gonna trade everyone and start over.

Wizards2Lottery · Post #5 » by **Wizards2Lottery** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 11:09 pm

That would be the best thing that would to this team in years.

CrankyTodd · Post #6 » by **CrankyTodd** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 11:09 pm

Soup's Uncle wrote:I've always heard that Leonsis get the team after Abe. Maybe he won't be affraid to go into the luxury tax a little to give us some frickin breathing room.

I don't know if it was made public, but I was also told at the time Ted bought the Caps that he had a deal to takeover the Wizards when Abe decided it was time to step down.

likwitdesi · Post #7 » by **likwitdesi** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 1:54 am

CrankyTodd wrote:-= original quote snipped =-

I don't know if it was made public, but I was also told at the time Ted bought the Caps that he had a deal to takeover the Wizards when Abe decided it was time to step down.

That was public info.

Post #8 » by **Rafael122** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 2:34 am

My only concern is that Leonsis does seem to be a cheapskate when he wants to be, and if he doesn't see a profit or whatever, he'll break the club and start trading everyone away.

He is more fan friendlier though so maybe we'll get to see some actual fans sitting in the lower bowels of the arena.

WashWiz54 · Post #9 » by **WashWiz54** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 2:50 am

As long as it isn't a buyer from Oklahoma City, I'm cool with it.

The Sonics are getting screwed.

doclinkin · Post #10 » by **doclinkin** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 2:53 am

Abe's been ill for a while, in the past he always said he would sell the team after they won another championship, which I always said was simply a play for eternal life. I like Abe, maybe we can make his dream come true and win him another Championship as the owner.

tkunit · Post #11 » by **tkunit** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 3:39 am

Rafael122 wrote:My only concern is that Leonsis does seem to be a cheapskate when he wants to be, and if he doesn't see a profit or whatever, he'll break the club and start trading everyone away.

He is more fan friendlier though so maybe we'll get to see some actual fans sitting in the lower bowels of the arena.

I agree he is quick to blow something up if it doesn't look promising before it can develop.

dobrojim · Post #12 » by **dobrojim** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 4:49 am

this isn't news

when Leonsis bought the caps, they agreed he'd have right
of first refusal to buy the 'zards.

the fact that Abe isn't seen at games anymore tells you he
must not be in good health. He is a good man and I wish him
well.

Post #13 » by **LyricalRico** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 11:14 am

Hopefully this doesn't happen until after Grunfeld has had the chance to negotiate with Gil/AJ and make a small trade or two. I'd hate for Ted to initiate a huge shakeup just to put his stamp on the team. That said, he just blessed Ovechkin with a massive payday so I don't see why he wouldn't re-sign Arenas.

As for his propensity to make moves, is Leonsis historically a hockey guy? Or is he just a business man? If he's a hockey guy, then I'm less worried that he'll meddle with the affairs of the Wiz. But if he's just a business man who still wants to make decisions, it could a cause for concern.

I still don't think the team will exceed the luxury tax, though. At least not at first. After a few years of increased profits and deep playoff runs, Leonsis might open up the coffers if he thought it would lead to a title.

mzaretsk · Post #14 » by **mzaretsk** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 12:43 pm

ted's a marketing guy - long time aol exec. them moved into entertainment and founded lincoln holdings, which purchased caps and mystics from abe (wash sports partnership). he then purchased a large share in wash sports partnership.

as for his fan-friendliness, didn't he punch out a guy at a hockey game?

i remember there was a big deal about it a few years back.

BigA · Post #15 » by **BigA** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 12:49 pm

LyricalRico wrote:Hopefully this doesn't happen until after Grunfeld has had the chance to negotiate with Gil/AJ and make a small trade or two. I'd hate for Ted to initiate a huge shakeup just to put his stamp on the team. That said, he just blessed Ovechkin with a massive payday so I don't see why he wouldn't re-sign Arenas.

As for his propensity to make moves, is Leonsis historically a hockey guy? Or is he just a business man? If he's a hockey guy, then I'm less worried that he'll meddle with the affairs of the Wiz. But if he's just a business man who still wants to make decisions, it could a cause for concern.

I still don't think the team will exceed the luxury tax, though. At least not at first. After a few years of increased profits and deep playoff runs, Leonsis might open up the coffers if he thought it would lead to a title.

I would be very surprised if Leonsis isn't consulted on all major roster decisions already, and would be very surprised to see him come in and make major changes when he has full control. My guess is that the transition has been going on behind the scenes for some time, and that the permission to exceed the lux tax we've heard about comes as much or more from Leonsis as from Pollin.

I'm also hopeful that Leonsis has learned from his two big debacles so far--the Jagr signing and bringing MJ into the Wizards.

NbdyBeatsTheWiz · Post #16 » by **NbdyBeatsTheWiz** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 2:42 pm

The guy scares me because of some of his decisions with the Caps (i.e. Jagr, and the complete overhaul), but to his credit he does have arguably the greatest hockey player in the world on the team, and locked up contractually for a very long time.

Post #17 » by **Ruzious** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 3:37 pm

NbdyBeatsTheWiz wrote:The guy scares me because of some of his decisions with the Caps (i.e. Jagr, and the complete overhaul), but to his credit he does have arguably the greatest hockey player in the world on the team, and locked up contractually for a very long time.

He scares you because he was willing to make the financial commitment to do what his GM wanted - and get arguably the best hockey player in the world at that time???

I want owners that are that scary.

BigA · Post #18 » by **BigA** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 3:51 pm

Yeah, I think with Jagr and MJ the main takeaway is that Leonsis was trying to make the teams better. I think he'll be a good owner.

The complete overhaul of the Caps is now looking like it was the right move.

NbdyBeatsTheWiz · Post #19 » by **NbdyBeatsTheWiz** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 4:17 pm

I feel you, I guess the only reason I said that is because I'd hate to see any kind of overhaul happen with us since our chemistry is on point and I think with health and development we'll be very very good very soon. But that's more than obvious with our success this year, so I don't know why I'm sweatin it

Wizardspride · Post #20 » by **Wizardspride** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 4:18 pm

LyricalRico wrote:
As for his propensity to make moves, is Leonsis historically a hockey guy? Or is he just a business man? If he's a hockey guy, then I'm less worried that he'll meddle with the affairs of the Wiz.

Leonsis is a basketball fan. Leonsis actually wanted the
Wizards all along. Buying the Caps was a requirement of
Abes to have first option to buy to Wiz if I'm correct.
And as for meddling...you don't have to worry about
that.

Leonsis is smart enough to give his employees
space to thier jobs.