Washington Wizards and Capitals owner Ted Leonsis plans to move his NBA and NHL teams to northern Virginia. The relocation doesn’t sit well with Tony Kornheiser.
Leonsis announced the “framework of an agreement” to build a new stadium complex for the Wizards and Capitals at Alexandria’s Potomac Yard. Kornheiser, who spent nearly three decades at The Washington Post, blasted the proposal on ESPN’s Pardon The Interruption.
“I have tried hard to come up with the exact right word to express what I think about Ted Leonsis driving a stake through the middle of downtown D.C., the capital of the United States of America. And the word that I’ve come up with is villainy,” Kornheiser said, as transcribed by Dan Steinberg.
Kornheiser on PTI: “I have tried hard to come up with the exact right word to express what I think about Ted Leonsis driving a stake through the middle of downtown D.C., the capital of the United States of America. And the word that I’ve come up with is villainy.”
— Dan Steinberg (@dcsportsbog) December 14, 2023
His longtime PTI co-host, Michael Wilbon, called the move “awful.”
“You’re going to take the city sport out of the city, turn your back on Washington, D.C., and go to Virginia? Really? What does that say to your fanbase that has been loyal despite zero years of contention for that franchise,” Wilbon said.
The Capitals haven’t won a playoff series since hoisting the Stanley Cup in 2018, and the Wizards haven’t reached a 50-win season or the Eastern Conference Finals since 1978-79.
The Wizards and Capitals have played at Capital One Arena, owned by Leonsis’ Monumental Sports & Entertainment, in D.C. since 1997. Leonsis claimed he still wants to maintain the venue as ” a great place” that will host the WNBA’s Washington Mystics.
Yet he’s aiming to move the Capitals and Wizards to a new Virginia home by 2028.
Leonsis was seeking $600 million in public funding from the nation’s capital for a $800 million renovation projection to Capital One Arena. Amid talks of his planned departure, Mayor Muriel Bowser outlined a plan offering $500 million “to create a state-of-the-art urban arena” on Tuesday.