Leonsis says DC might chase NBA, NHL All-Star video games after Capital One Arena makeover

Monumental’s $800 million-plus renovation might place Washington for marquee weekends, however the firm’s CEO warns followers the leagues management the tickets.

Ted Leonsis has by no means hidden his skepticism concerning the glamour of internet hosting an All-Star Game, typically noting that the leagues, not the house groups, run the present and divvy up the most effective seats.

But with a sweeping, multiyear renovation of Capital One Arena underway in D.C., the proprietor and chairman of Monumental Sports & Entertainment says Washington is able to elevate its hand once more for the NBA and NHL’s marquee midseason showcases.

“When our building is up and functioning, I would hope we’d be considered for an NBA All-Star Game,” Leonsis advised WTOP. “The NHL All-Star Game … we’d love to be able to host it.”

The Capitals have hosted the NHL All-Star Game solely as soon as — in 1982 in Landover, Maryland. The Wizards final hosted the NBA All-Star Game in 2001 in D.C.

Leonsis stated bringing the WNBA All-Star Game again for the primary time since 2007 can be on his radar.

Leagues hardly ever spell out a components for selecting host cities, however new arenas and main renovations sometimes assist push a market to the entrance of the road.

With greater than $800 million in upgrades deliberate on the Downtown area, the Capitals, Wizards and Mystics match that profile. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman toured the location this previous season and noticed the work firsthand.

“Ted took me on a tour of what’s been done and what’s being planned,” Bettman stated in January. “What’s going on here is nothing short of spectacular. And sharing our tent-pole events, our special events with the fans in Washington, with the Capitals, the organization, is always on the table.”

The renovation is anticipated to wrap forward of the 2027-28 season, which means any All-Star bid might nonetheless be years away.

Capital One Arena is scheduled to shut this summer time as work continues. Phase two focuses on new and relocated entrances and a reimagined exterior; that portion is anticipated to be accomplished in September 2026, with extra exterior work persevering with into 2027.

“Then, we’ll be done and we’ll have a pristine, beautiful, great new experience,” Leonsis stated. “And then we can start to bid, and I’ll put my hand up for both of those games.”

CEO Ted Leonsis talks with WTOP’s Ben Raby about his want to deliver an All-Star recreation to D.C.

Leonsis floated 2031 as an intriguing goal for the NBA, the thirtieth anniversary of the final All-Star Game in Washington.

Still, he stated followers ought to perceive what comes with it: The league controls the occasion and far of the stock.

“I just have to give the fair warning: It’s not our event. It’s the league’s event, and they are catering to the sponsors,” Leonsis stated. “Anybody who has held an All-Star Game always ends up with the hard feelings, ‘I’ve been a season-ticket holder for X years, why can’t I sit in my seats?’ Well, I don’t own the building during the All-Star Game. I don’t own the suites. They give them to all 30 teams.”

He laughed on the reminiscence of studying that lesson through the 2001 NBA All-Star weekend in Washington, when he was an AOL government with company-held courtside season tickets.

“We were expecting at the All-Star Game that we’d have our same tickets,” he stated. “Instead, we were moved to the front row upstairs. The league owns the tickets and the inventory, and they are distributing them as they see best.”

If expectations are clear, Leonsis stated the area has loads of causes to pursue the occasions — from nationwide publicity to a surge in guests.

Like the enhance native leaders count on from the NFL draft coming to Washington subsequent April, an All-Star weekend can ship a major financial jolt for accommodations, eating places and transit.

Forbes reported the 2024 NHL All-Star Game had a $50-$60 million financial impression on Toronto. The 2025 NBA All-Star Game generated $429 million in total event value for the San Francisco Bay Area economic system, in response to Temple University’s Sports Industry Research Center.

“I think it’s the right thing for the city and the right thing for our team to show off the new building once it reopens,” Leonsis stated. “We’ll put our hand up when the time is right.”

More ladies’s hockey in DC?

Beyond the All-Star discuss, there may be additionally buzz round whether or not Washington might land a ladies’s skilled hockey group.

Leonsis has lengthy touted the expansion of ladies’s sports activities and owns the WNBA’s Washington Mystics by means of Monumental.

“We should be the women’s professional sports capital of the world,” Leonsis stated. “We want to play that part and be in that role as a leader and innovator.”

WTOP’s Ben Raby asks Ted Leonsis concerning the PWHL buzz in D.C.

He stated he has intently monitored the Professional Women’s Hockey League, which launched in 2024 and has mentioned enlargement publicly.

This previous winter, Monumental hosted a neutral-site recreation between the Montreal Victoire and the New York Sirens as a part of the PWHL’s Takeover Tour. The recreation drew a file 17,228 followers to Capital One Arena on the time, the biggest U.S. crowd to look at a ladies’s hockey recreation and chant a loud chorus of “we want a team.”

Leonsis stated the curiosity is actual, however timing issues.

“We have a couple more years of renovations, so it’s very difficult right now to speak with certainty about expansion and what they’re doing along our timetable,” he stated.

After the Takeover Tour cease, Leonsis stated he spoke with PWHL government Stan Kasten about methods to deliver extra ladies’s hockey to the District.

“Stan and I did talk about, ‘Hey, this went very well,’ We enjoyed it, they enjoyed it, the players enjoyed it,” Leonsis stated. “We should maybe do two games next year, or three games the season after that. We should start to get into a rhythm.”

A full-time group, Leonsis famous, might rely on how the league buildings possession. The PWHL presently operates as a single entity, with groups owned and operated by the Mark Walter Group.

Sources advised WTOP the league might ultimately transfer away from that mannequin, although no timetable has been set and nothing is imminent. The single-entity strategy has been framed by the league as a conservative strategy to construct a basis for long-term success.

“Given the success of this January’s game in D.C., Monumental has interest in hosting future neutral-site PWHL games and is open to exploring opportunities to bring a team to Washington, D.C., if there were flexibility in the ownership structure,” a Monumental spokesperson stated in an electronic mail.

“We certainly want to stay close with them,” Leonsis stated. “My expectation is that we’ll be a big part of the overall women’s professional sports landscape.”

Museum-like artwork, memorabilia shows at Capital One Arena

Among the additions on the revamped area that Leonsis stated he’s most trying ahead to would be the District Arts Collection — a multimillion greenback curated artwork and memorabilia assortment which is able to by displayed all through the sector.

Benefiting from its partnership with cllct — a premier collectible media and advertising providers firm — Monumental Sports is within the technique of gathering historic artifacts that may ultimately be displayed for followers to peruse on all ranges of the constructing. The displays will embrace each sports activities and Americana memorabilia.

“We want to have a museum, we want to have more interactivity through the arena,” Leonsis stated.

The situation Monumental has run into when making an attempt to collect memorabilia from their very own groups is that little or no has really been preserved by the golf equipment themselves. It’s a standard oversight by {many professional} franchises, which cllct is working to right on the fly.

“It’s strange because in some sense, it’s the only part of teams that are worth billions of dollars that isn’t professionalized, because it was never anyone’s job to do it,” stated Darren Rovell, the founding father of cllct.

Ted Leonsis tells WTOP’s Ben Raby concerning the exhibit at Capital One.

Leonsis stated that when Monumental started its quest to construct museum-like displays, he figured it will naturally embrace objects from Michael Jordan’s taking part in days with the Wizards. He quickly came upon, although, they didn’t have a lot in-house.

“We had to hire Darren to go into market to get people to sell us Michael Jordan autographed basketballs, Michael Jordan autographed home and away jerseys,” Leonsis stated.

“What we’ve been doing now is trying to be very bespoke on our history. Who were the best players? What did they wear their rookie year? What did they wear the year they retired? What did they wear when they scored their 100th goal? We want to build and amass that type of collection and be able to tell the story in a more interactive, lived way,” he added.

Monumental partnered with Rovell in 2025 with the purpose of getting museum-like installations in place by fall 2027. Rovell is in fixed contact with former gamers about lending items and has additionally recognized a handful of big-time collectors of Capitals and Wizards memorabilia, who’re planning to contribute to the sector’s assortment.

The authentic purpose buildings and nets from Alex Ovechkin’s record-tying and record-breaking 894th and 895th targets have already been obtained and will likely be among the many shows.

“Those goal structures are just not pieces of metal,” Rovell stated. “They signify so much.”

Rovell stated from his expertise that game-used memorabilia can attract even informal followers, who might keep in mind a particular date or recreation from their very own reminiscence financial institution.

“Game-used is really like the emotion,” Rovell stated. “That’s what connects you to the moment. We’re also going to (showcase) it in a display that is meaningful. I think sometimes you have game-used stuff that is not displayed in a way that it deserves. This is museum quality stuff and so giving it the gravitas that it deserves, I think, is going to be a mark of the new Capital One Arena.”

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