Pollin family reaches an agreement to sell franchise to Leonsis
The transfer of full ownership of the Washington Wizards from the family of the late Abe Pollin to Washington Capitals owner Ted Leonsis is complete, the Pollin family announced Tuesday, five months after the death of the Washington sports patriarch.
“We have reached an agreement on the major economic terms to sell our family’s share of the Washington Wizards, Verizon Center and related Washington Sports businesses to Ted Leonsis and his partners at Lincoln Holdings,” Robert and James Pollin, the late Abe Pollin’s sons, said a statement. The sons assumed the roles of chief executive officer and president, respectively, of Washington Sports & Entertainment — Abe Pollin’s holding company — after their father died Nov. 24 at the age of 85.
“We join our mother Irene, the sole principal owner of the franchise today, in congratulating Ted Leonsis and his Lincoln Holdings partners on reaching this near-final step in a long negotiation,” the statement read.
Leonsis wrote on his blog: “Once the deal is official; blessed by the NBA, WNBA and NHL; and we conclude the deal, we will have formal and official communications with all constituencies. For now, I am very grateful to Robert Pollin for going on record with an update regarding our deal negotiations.”
With a purchase agreement expected to be signed in the next week, the move will bring Washington’s NBA franchise and Verizon Center under sole control of Leonsis, whose Lincoln Holdings investment group bought the Capitals, along with a share of the Wizards and the downtown arena in 1999. As part of that deal, Leonsis and Lincoln Holdings assumed exclusive rights to purchase the remaining portion of the basketball team and Verizon Center.
Abe and Irene Pollin bought the then-Baltimore Bullets in 1964, making them the longest-serving owners in the NBA before Abe Pollin’s death.
The transfer of the Wizards could herald a potential franchise shake-up after a tumultuous season both on and off the court. However, Leonsis has never taken a heavy-handed approach with the Capitals, even after a poor 2003-04 campaign.
The deal should allow the Wizards to begin moving forward with their offseason strategy. Because discussions of the sale were ongoing since December, the Pollins were not in a position to approve any summer plans regarding the NBA Draft, trades or free agency.
A three-quarters majority of the NBA’s 30 owners — 23 votes — must approve the agreement, but that is expected to be a formality. The Leonsis ownership group is expected to be in place by the time the 2010 NBA Draft takes place June 24, and it could essentially have the reins as soon as the NBA Draft Lottery on May 18.
