In DC, we have had our share of unique owners from all of our sports teams. From Skins owner Jack Kent Cooke, who patted the mayor on the rump during negotiations to Bullets owner Abe Pollin, who brought the city our last major sports championship (apologies to DC United), it seems to be a special type of owner that owns the teams from this town.
Add to the list Ted Leonsis, new owner of the Wizards. While he did (and does) own the Washington Capitals hockey team, he has now added the men's basketball team to his portfolio. With this addition, as well his ownership of the WNBA's Mystics (which are currently tied for first in the Eastern Conference), he hopes to continue to work his magic of success.
What makes this former AOL executive turned sports mogul special? Over the last three years as Caps owner, they have won three out of every five games while winning the Southeast Conference each year. They actually were the best team in the entire league this past year with 54 wins. He did this while learning from the school of hard knocks. Initially he went for the veteran move, signing Jaromir Jagr to a large deal (7yrs., 77 million). He did not live up the hype--helping the team miss the playoffs that year. Learning from the experience, he did a paradigm change, developing young talent from the farm system.
From there, the rest will soon be history.
He plans to use the same strategy with the Wizards. He has been mainly on the sidelines this past free agent signing period, just signing a small piece here and there. He caught a major break getting John Wall as the number one pick of the recent draft. One block at a time.
Having said all this, the reason that I did this blog is in regards to his customer service skills. According to various sources, he shows his responsiveness to his customers by, for example, personally responding to e-mails regarding customer suggestions. He received one suggestion that cup holders should be added to bathroom stalls in the Verizon Center. What did it for me was his recent statement saying that he plans to mop floors in the Center, just to understand the process. Wow.
Mr. Leonsis is laying the groundwork to bring winning and championships back to the DC area. One block at a time.
Song of the day: We Are the Champions - Queen. Have a great weekend!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04854XqcfCY&feature=avmsc2
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