Ted Leonsis, the founder of Monumental Sports & Entertainment, now controls a Washington

Ted Leonsis, the founder of Monumental Sports & Entertainment, now controls a Washington, D.C.-based sports company valued at more than $7.8 billion that owns the NBA’s Washington Wizards, the NHL’s Washington Capitals, the WNBA’s Washington Mystics and the NBA G League’s Capital City Go-Go, 36Kr reported. The company also operates five venues, including the 20,000-seat Capital One Arena in downtown Washington, and runs Monumental Sports Network, the exclusive local broadcaster and streaming home for all three major-league teams.

The scale of the business has grown fast: Sportico reported that Monumental Sports & Entertainment was valued at roughly $4.05 billion when the Qatar Investment Authority bought a 5% stake in June 2023, and at about $7.2 billion in a December 2025 transaction — a 78% increase in three years, 36Kr reported.

From mowing lawns to picking up toenail clippings next to a president

Leonsis likes to tell the story of the night President Barack Obama called to say he wanted to attend a Washington Mystics game, shortly after Leonsis had taken over the WNBA team. After hosting the president, Leonsis was put on cleanup duty and ended up collecting toenail clippings someone had left on the arena floor — one moment standing beside the leader of the United States, the next bent over debris. In his telling, that is exactly the right attitude toward the work, 36Kr reported.

Leonsis started out mowing other people’s lawns. After college he worked at a computer company, then founded a media company that he later sold to America Online, becoming AOL’s president. Over the following 14 years, AOL’s membership grew from 800,000 to 8 million and revenue climbed from $100 million to $1.5 billion, according to the 36Kr report. Forbes has named him one of the 250 greatest self-made people in the United States.

His sports career began in 1999, when he bought the Washington Capitals. In 2010 he became the Wizards’ majority owner and founded Monumental Sports & Entertainment, adding the Mystics around the same period, 36Kr reported.

The 2023 sovereign wealth bet that reset the valuation

Professional sports franchises became scarce, long-term assets for institutional capital after the major leagues — MLB, NHL, NBA, MLS and NFL — eased rules around private equity and outside investment in the years around the pandemic.

In June 2023, the Qatar Investment Authority acquired a 5% stake in Monumental Sports & Entertainment, becoming the first — and still only — sovereign wealth fund to invest directly in a major American professional sports team, 36Kr reported. In December 2025, the company announced that Arctos Sports Partners had come in as a new minority shareholder and that the Qatar Investment Authority had increased its existing investment.

The two deals bracket a steep climb in value. Sportico put the 2023 valuation at about $4.05 billion and the 2025 transaction at $7.2 billion, the 78% jump cited by 36Kr.

Keeping the teams in D.C. through at least 2050

In 2023, Monumental threatened to move its arena to Virginia to pressure officials into funding Capital One Arena. The Washington Post reported at the time that the company was weighing a relocation of the Capitals and Wizards unless the District of Columbia invested in modernizing the venue. In March 2024, the mayor of Washington, D.C., announced an agreement with Leonsis guaranteeing that the Capitals and Wizards will remain in the city at least through 2050, 36Kr reported.

Monumental spent $30 million on a 2019 renovation that replaced every seat, rebuilt the concourses, reworked food and beverage areas, added a larger center-hung video board and installed the SkyRing screen that wraps the upper bowl. A new renovation now under way is budgeted at $1 billion, with $515 million coming from the District of Columbia government and the rest from Monumental, 36Kr reported. The arena hosts more than 220 live events a year and served as the site of the indoor parade for Donald Trump’s second inauguration in 2025.

The SaaS playbook: recurring revenue from suites and naming rights

Monumental’s model leans on what he describes as SaaS-style recurring revenue — Software as a Service thinking translated into permanent seating and long-term partnerships. Leonsis has said about 70% of the company’s business now comes from such local, recurring revenue, 36Kr reported.

In August 2025, Monumental signed a 20-year extension of the arena’s naming rights with Capital One, which has held the Capital One Arena naming rights since 2017, according to the 36Kr report.

Owning the full stack: teams, arena and broadcast

In fall 2022, Monumental acquired full control of NBC Sports Washington and rebranded it Monumental Sports Network. The network holds the exclusive local television rights to the Wizards, Capitals and Mystics, and also serves as the broadcast and digital platform for the Capital City Go-Go and the Wizards District Gaming esports team, 36Kr reported. A digital channel launched in 2016 carries exclusive behind-the-scenes content, and all of these properties now operate under the single Monumental Sports Network brand.

Leonsis’s son Zach, until recently president of media and new businesses, was named president and vice chair of the company, taking over finance, infrastructure, technology, venues and the media business, 36Kr reported. Owning more assets does not automatically mean more profit — running arenas and producing media requires heavy upfront spending, and a network that generates $100 million more in revenue but costs $110 million to run is not a good asset on its own, he noted. But for a multi-billion-dollar company, holding the distribution channels is the more common choice, like Kroenke Sports & Entertainment’s Altitude network in Denver.

Forbes has described Monumental’s structure as “full stack”: it controls not just the teams but the infrastructure through which fans watch, attend and experience games. The company says 3 million people visit the arena each year, the network reaches more than 2.5 million subscribers, and its broadcast, digital and social channels touch tens of millions of fans. That lets Monumental sell direct-to-consumer content and build its own apps as cable declines, and it gives the company a first-party database of more than 5 million people — a measurable audience that anonymous ratings data from media partners cannot match, Zach has said, 36Kr reported.

Questions readers ask about Monumental Sports & Entertainment

How much is Ted Leonsis’s sports company worth?

36Kr puts the market value above $7.8 billion. Sportico reported valuations of about $4.05 billion in the June 2023 Qatar Investment Authority deal and $7.2 billion in the December 2025 transaction — 78% growth in three years.

Which teams does Monumental Sports & Entertainment own?

The company owns the Washington Wizards of the NBA, the Capital City Go-Go of the NBA G League, the Washington Capitals of the NHL and the Washington Mystics of the WNBA, plus five venues anchored by the 20,000-seat Capital One Arena in downtown Washington, D.C.

Why did a sovereign wealth fund invest in a U.S. team?

Because the Qatar Investment Authority’s 5% stake in June 2023 made it the first sovereign wealth fund to invest directly in a major American professional sports franchise, a sign of how institutional capital now views teams as scarce long-term assets, 36Kr reported.

Are the Capitals and Wizards staying in Washington, D.C.?

In March 2024 the D.C. mayor announced an agreement with Leonsis securing the teams’ presence in the city, after Monumental had floated a possible move to Virginia to pressure the district into funding arena upgrades.

What role does Zach Leonsis play now?

Ted Leonsis recently named his son president and vice chair of Monumental Sports & Entertainment, putting him in charge of finance, infrastructure, technology, venues and the media business, 36Kr reported.

The open question hanging over the company is how it converts that scale into durable value: the 2025 transaction placed the valuation at $7.2 billion, and the unfinished ambition Leonsis has described — making Washington a sports capital — remains.

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