Wizards Owner Ted Leonsis "is weighing whether to build a glitzy Wizards basketball practice facility on the site of the former St. Elizabeths Hospital, a mostly vacant campus in Southeast DC," according to Jonathan O'Connell of the WASHINGTON POST. The team "would practice amongst some of the city’s poorest communities and could serve as a central component of a long-promised revival that could also include a Microsoft Innovation Center." The campus "is one of three final locations," along with a property on the campus of Howard Univ. and a location "atop parking garages near the Silver Spring Metro station" in Maryland. The idea is to "build a complex similar" to the Capitals' Kettler Capitals Iceplex training facility in Arlington, Va. If DC Mayor Muriel Bowser and Leonsis "can come to terms on a deal to bring the Wizards to St. Elizabeths, it could give redevelopment efforts in the District’s Ward 8 a shot in the arm and provide the team with a state-of-the-art training center" akin to what teams like the Bulls have recently unveiled. Monumental Sports & Entertainment Exec VP & General Counsel Randall Boe said that Leonsis "expects to make a selection next month, which could mean the facility would be under construction by the next summer, when NBA teams go to the free agent market looking for talent." Thunder F Kevin Durant, a DC-area native, is among the players that "might be available" (WASHINGTON POST, 8/28).
VIRTUAL INSANITY: Leonsis on Thursday appeared on CNBC’s "Closing Bell," where he discussed new technologies being used in the sports world. He said, “One of the things that we're trying to pioneer is the use of virtual reality. I think 2016 will be the first year where there is a commercialization, both with consumers and with business-to-business applications. From what I've seen, there is nothing that will drive productivity and training in a bigger and better way than virtual reality." He said in addition to the use of VR, “we've been leaders in applying advanced stats for our basketball team." Leonsis: "We were one of the first to use those high-speed cameras in-basket. In hockey, we’re doing a lot of interesting things and being able to help the goalie visualize the puck. Stats and sports, it's become like your business, really the technical trade. We have double math PhDs who sometimes don't have to watch the game who can tell us exactly what happened just by looking at the data” (“Closing Bell,” CNBC, 8/27).
