Washington Wizards owner Ted Leonsis was up past midnight March 29, watching his basketball team slog through a disheartening West Coast loss, this time to the Golden State Warriors.
As he went to bed after the game, Leonsis knew what his email inbox would look like the next morning: missives from angry fans demanding changes. He said he has learned not to react to those negative messages and, instead, appreciate the passion they show in his team. In other words, don’t get too high with the highs or too low with the lows.
“On Twitter, I could post a story about a young girl who ran into a burning building and saved 12 puppies, and the first comments would be ‘Fire the coach’ and ‘Fire the general manager,’” he said. “It comes with the territory. No matter what industry or business you’re in, no matter how smart or how good you are in your existing business, nothing you’ve done in the past has prepared you for what you’re about to get into in owning a professional sports team.”
Leonsis said that for the most part, fan interactions have been very positive. “But you have to be prepared for the bad. I’ve been booed. I’ve been yelled at. For the most part, the people who do communicate are in the 10 percent that had the unbelievably positive experience and the 10 percent that are having the really, really negative viewpoints and experiences. That’s just human nature.”
Ultimately, Leonsis said, he never wants to forget that his ownership of the Capitals, Mystics and Wizards is a civic
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trust.
“The reason I want to win a Stanley Cup or NBA or WNBA championship is the lifelong indelible memories, relationships, the conversations year-after-year that it engenders,” he said.
“There’s nothing as powerful I can tell in business as winning a championship for your community. I worked very closely on some very, very successful companies and products. AOL Instant Messenger? That was a very successful product — hundreds and hundreds of millions of people around the world used it. It ushered in viral marketing. It was the godfather for messaging and texting. There’s not a lot of nostalgia. People don’t think of using AIM and cry or talk about it.
“But when I thought about going to games with my dad, who was a season-ticket holder, and giving me that as a birthday gift and a Christmas gift, then the Jets winning the Super Bowl and then my holding his hand and going to the parade, that is a deeply etched memory that’s positive that I’ve carried for a lifetime. That’s what I mean on the social responsibility of owning a team. It’s amazing to know you can do that.”
