Major League Baseball’s selection of an investment group led by local real estate magnate Ted Lerner as the new owner of the Washington Nationals has been greeted with well-deserved applause. Lerner, who watched the Senators while working as an usher at the old Griffith Stadium, was the only bidder who offered something more thana $450 million check. But if money were the only criteria, any old billionaire would do.
After 18 months of uncertainty, commissioner Bud Selig’s announcement that a hometown boy was selected over seven other investor groups was a great relief. Lerner, who literally made his fortune helping transform the landscape of the Washington region, wants to leave something more permanent behind than a bunch of numbers on an accounting spreadsheet.
As a baseball fan long before America’s pastime became a big business run by a bunch of people who seem more interested in profits than preserving the game’s storied traditions, Lerner brought more to the table than deep pockets. He seems genuinely committed to creating the kind of team that Washington fans can fall madly in love with, take their kids and grandkids to see, passionately discuss around the water cooler and dream about in the off-season. But that kind of fierce loyalty cannot be bought; it must be earned the old-fashioned way, with honesty and a long-term commitment to excellence.
Lerner, a graduate of Roosevelt High School and The George Washington University, seems to have the right stuff needed to turn the Nats into the beloved franchise this baseball-starved city had been seeking the past three decades. He brought along Stan Kasten, the former president of the Atlanta Braves and the man responsible for that dynasty’s regular trips to the playoffs and the World Series. Kasten is determined to continue to build the Nats organization from the ground up in the same way, a long-term enterprise that will increase the pleasure of Washington fans as they watch their team evolve into a reliable pennant contender.
To do all that, however, Lerner will have to buck the current corrosive culture that is eating away at baseball from within and return to a fan-centric style that has all but disappeared from professional sports. The benefits of keeping ticket and concession prices low so families can afford to go to the ballpark more than once a year, providing community groups with free tickets and discounts, and going the extra mile to make fans (as well as investors) happy are not immediately obvious on the balance sheet, but is key to ensuring the team’s long-term financial viability.
Yesterday’s groundbreaking ceremony for the new $611 million, publicly financed stadium on the Anacostia River was a reminder that keeping the project on time and on budget will be tough. The TV blackout of Nats games, engineered by Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos, is also a serious problem that needs to be resolved soon.
But for now, those practical concerns should not be allowed to mar what should be Washington’s long, happy honeymoon with the Nats’ new owner. After all, he’s family.
