Ted Leonsis is giving fans a peek at his life as a sports owner in an interview for a new book, including details on a pair of high-profile contracts.
The 69-year-old owner of the Capitals, Mystics and Wizards is part of an upcoming book by Orioles owner David Rubenstein titled, “Inside the Owner’s Box: Conversations on Power and Leadership in Sports.” The book comes out Tuesday and includes conversations with several team owners, as Rubenstein attempts to make sense of the profession.
In the book, Leonsis, who bought the Capitals in 1999, expressed regret over how he handled the team’s pursuit of Jaromir Jagr in 2001. The Capitals signed Jagr to a seven-year, $77 million deal, which was the largest contract in NHL history at the time, after his 11-year run with the Penguins, which included two Stanley Cups. Both Jagr and the Capitals failed to live up to expectations, and the team traded him to the Rangers in 2004 while continuing to pay part of his salary.
It was an early lesson in ownership for Leonsis.
Trending
“I advocated maybe a little more enthusiastically than I should have,” Leonsis said to Rubenstein in the book. “We brought Jaromir here, and that was a disaster. I made a mistake.”
But Leonsis also goes into some of his success stories. In 2008, Capitals executive Dick Patrick convinced Leonsis to give Alex Ovechkin a 13-year contract. At the time, the Capitals star was in the final year of his rookie deal. Ovechkin went on to become one of the league’s greatest players.
Ovechkin’s contract led then-NBA commissioner David Stern to call Leonsis and offer his two cents.
“Thirteen years is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard,” Stern said, according to Leonsis, who added that his only regret was he didn’t add more years to the deal.
Did Stern ever admit to Leonsis he was wrong?
“No, but they changed the rules, so you can’t give deals like that anymore,” Leonsis told Rubenstein.
On Wednesday, the NHL collective bargaining agreement changed to make deals even shorter, from eight years to seven. Perhaps drawing from previous experience, Leonsis and the Capitals signed two second-year players to eight-year extensions just before the deadline changed.
Author
