The Kevin Sheehan Show - Ted Leonsis

Episode Date: February 26, 2025

Kevin opened with something Adam Peters said yesterday along with the Washington's improved NFLPA "Report Card". Then it was Wizards/Caps/Monumental owner Ted Leonsis jumping on with Kevin to discuss so many things including but not limited to the Caps, Ovechkin's chase of Gretsky's goal-scoring record, the Wizards' "process", the Commanders' exciting season, the possibility of Washington Football returning to RFK, an update on the Cap One Arena renovation, how he felt about the negative reaction to his plans to move his teams to Virginia, the Beatles, Clay vs Liston, and a lot more.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it, but you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Cheon Show. Here's Kevin. I feel like you have enough draft capital where if you wanted to make a significant trade that you would still be able to build the draft. Like what?

You tell me. You know, I mean, there's always going to be tradeoffs if you do something like that. And we have seven picks, you know, and so that's a full lot. And it's not our own seven picks, but I think it just goes back to Sam, just always doing what we think is best for the team. That was Adam Peters yesterday, answering a question from Sam 40A of the Washington Post.

The question being, do you need excess draft capital to make a big trade? Peters did not say no. The show's presenting sponsor, Windonation, 86690 Nation, or Windonation.com if you need new windows. On the show with me today, Ted Leonsis. Ted was very generous with his time. We recorded the interview yesterday, so before Alex Ovechkin scored another goal, he's now 12 away from breaking Gretzky's mark.

He scored last night in the loss at home to Calgary. But Ted Leonsis, and we'll get to it quickly, on a lot of things, on Ovechkin chasing down Gretzky, on the cap season, on the Four Nations. tournament just concluded the wizards and the process they're going through the football season that Washington had this year, the prospect that they'll be moving one day to RFK, how he felt about the negative reaction fans had to his plans to move to Potomac Yards before that story turned around quickly. We've got a lot with Ted Leonis coming up and I'll get to it very quickly.

So Adam Peters spoke yesterday. I will react to what he said. But there was some news today. It was not roster related. But the NFL Players Association put out their annual report cards on all 32 teams. You know, this is the thing where the players weigh in on things like facilities and food and treatment of families. This is the thing that Washington has ranked dead last. in the last two years? Not this year. This is for 2024. The players, the players union,

ranked Washington 11th among 32 teams. Now, what drove the massive rise in ranking is that Dan Quinn was ranked the number one head coach in the league by the players union. Number one by the players overall, Dan Quinn, and ownership got a very high A grade as well. Other areas had improved as well. The thing that didn't allow the rise to continue beyond or higher than 11th is that their facilities are still ranked very low. They've got outdated facilities out in Nashburn and, by the way, at FedEx Field. Now, what does all this mean? I guess it means that players don't view Washington as the pits of the NFL anymore. And so that probably helps with things like free agency. In terms of, you know, a direct link to performance on the field, let's just say that Jaden Daniels

means a lot more. But still, this is, you know, a reflection of the job that Josh Harrison ownership have done. And by the way, how players around the league feel about Dan Quinn. Real quickly on what Peters said in answering that question about trade and do you need excess draft capital. Look, he's not going to answer that question. I understand that. When I said he didn't say no, well, he didn't say no, but he's not going to rule anything out. I hope we get a chance to see how they would handle a Miles Garrett being available. I really hope we get a chance to see that.

Now, the Browns say that Miles Garrett is not available. That's their stand right now. Washington is a favorite to land Miles Garrett if he becomes available. 33rd team has Washington as the favorite plus 275, followed by Buffalo and then Philadelphia. Tommy and I talked yesterday about, you know, Howie Roseman and if he got aggressive in a Miles Garrett sweepstakes. I'd like to see it, but I don't know that we will. Stay tuned. All right, let's get to Ted.

This was a fun conversation. We will start that when we come back after these words from a few of our sponsors. Hey, guys, if you've lost your hair or you're losing your hair, it doesn't mean you can't find it again. Try him's hair loss solutions. You'll be joining hundreds of thousands who have found their hair again. Men value many different things about their appearance. If you're one of those who really cares about your hair and find that it's slowly going away, you might be feeling discouraged when you look in the mirror.

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This segment of the show is brought to you by Wind Donation. if you've been thinking about new windows, you've got two days to take advantage of 60% off your purchase with no payments and no interest charged for two full years. Think about it. You don't have to make a payment with no interest charged until 2027. In the meantime, your new insulated windows will have saved big money for you on your heating and air conditioning bills. It all starts with a call to 86690 Nation or other. visit to windownation.com. Mention my name.

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First of all, thank you for doing this. It's been a while. You were very nice to have Tom and me down for lunch one day a few months back, and we got caught up, and you said you'd love to do this, and we got, you know, involved in a football season, and now's, you know, a good time for both of us. But it's been a while since you've been on the show, and I'm really glad you're doing it. And the timing is perfect, actually,

because of the success that your hockey team is having and, of course, Alex's chase of Gretzky. I mean, it is a great time to be a Caps fan. This has got to be the most exciting moment since the Stanley Cup run, right? Well, how long have you been in market? How long have you been on radio and doing the podcast? Well, I'm from here, born and race. I've lived here my whole life, but this was, I started this part of my professional career about 20 years ago.

So 20 years on radio and podcasting. Yep. So this is my 25th season. Right. And, you know, we've had a very nice arc. for I'd call monumental hockey, the Washington Capitals,

the Hershey Bears, and you know, we've built something that's generationally excellent. It's been reported,

and I think correctly, that I think we were the fastest ownership group. I was the fastest owner to a thousand wins,

only Jerry Jacobs at the Bruins, and he's the most senior owner in the league. So we've been very successful, and it all would have been, for naught, had we not won the Stanley Cup, right, winning, having the best record, having the most playoff appearances, none of that matters. It's just you've got to get a ring. And so 2018 was very, very special and meaningful. and Alex was our captain, and he signed the big long contract 13 years, and he just signed another five years, and now in the last two years of his deal. And why I love the man is he's always focused on build the best team,

and if we have a great team, and we're making the playoffs and we're contending for a cup, I'll score a lot of goals. I'll get a lot of points. But I don't want to be the side show. I don't want to be just chasing a record, but it's meaningless. And so, you know, we made the playoff last year. We got eliminated first round. We got swept by the Rangers who won the President's Trophy, best record in the league.

And this off-season, we said, well, that's not good enough. And our front office and our new GM, Chris Patrick, and we have a front office that's very young. I think we still have the youngest coach in the league with Spencer Carberry, and Chris has got to be one of the youngest GMs. They did a masterful job of really understanding the needs of the team and bringing in players that fit really, really well,

and we sit today as we play Calgary with the most points in the NHL. We have a couple of games in hand, and Alex is having a historic season because he missed 16 games with a broken leg. Although he did say to me, well, it's not a weight-bearing. What bone in your leg could not be weight-paring,

but okay. An NBA player might miss it. the rest of the year, and he was playing, you know, he missed 16 games. And I've always believed with this player, with this man, that we should never underestimate him. And this record, I thought, would be unbreakable. And I think Alex has a really good chance of breaking the record this year. It would be great if he could break the record this year.

go into the playoff, not having to focus on anything else because the pressure is starting to build with the chatter and the media. You know, when's you're going to break it? Is it going to be at home? It's going to be on the road. And, you know, that's not what the team wants to focus on. The team wants to focus on making the playoffs and then having a good run and why not try to win another cup.

So I just looked at the commissioner and Wayne Gretzky are going to start to travel with the team when Alex gets five goals away. Obviously, you know, I'll be doing that probably when he gets the 10 goals away. It'll be five goals away when Gretzky will start showing up at the games. Five goals away. Wow. Because, I mean, I guess there is a chance he could have six goals in a game. but, you know, that's playing it safe, for sure. That's playing it safe, and I just looked at the schedule in our last game of the season.

Yeah, I know. It's on the road in Pittsburgh, right? Yes, I'm very aware of that. I've talked about it, yeah. That's probably the game that if I were betting, it could happen. But Alex could go on a run. I think the games this weekend were very instructive. I mean, it's so, such a roller-corps.

coast, right? So we score eight goals on Saturday, and Alex doesn't have a point. And it's all the speculation, well, he had this layoff, what was he doing? I thought he was working out. And then

I thought the game at home on Sunday against a really, really good team, was one of his best games. I thought the second goal on the power play, was like he was 25 years old.

I thought that play, that shot that was in the net before the goalie moved, and Alex could add four or five goals at that game. So it's a really enjoyable season. The fans are really loving it. The team, the players are really embracing the spotlight. You know, we were on ABC and TNT. We were both games were national television. Ratings are Bafo whenever the caps play.

And the teams playing with a bit of a chip on its shoulder. The Four Nations tournament was awesome. And we didn't have one player playing in the tournament. So real quickly, because I was going to get to Ovechkin, but let's get to him now. Because you actually mentioned something that I've talked about. very intrigued with, which is, what if your predictions right, and he does break the record in the season finale on the road at Arch Rival Pittsburgh? What do you think the reaction from Pittsburgh fans and the Pittsburgh organization would be to Alex Ovechkin breaking Gretzky's mark on their

home ice? I think there's been a mutual respect that has been grown between Pittsburgh and the Caps I think just an interview I read with Malkin where you know he's embraced and I know Sidney Crosby and Alex now have a very very

respectful thing and you know greatness respects greatness and certainly Wayne Gretzky, Sidney Crosby Alex Ovechkin even Malkin. You know those are Hall of Fame players

and there's a mutual respect there. And so I think the fans will be excited and respectful. Obviously, we prefer that he break the record at home. And whether it's this year, Alex is signed for next year. And, you know, there's a lot of subplots in this. You know, some that I'm very proud of, right? One is, name me another all-time record that has fallen by a player that has played his entire career for one franchise. LeBron broke the record as the most points in the NBA.

Cleveland, Miami, Cleveland, and now the Lakers. Yeah. Runs. Tom Brady? Right. It doesn't matter. Yeah. Michael Jordan, Chicago and Washington.

Yeah. Sounds like you didn't find one. And because Alex committed to our fans and the city, Nick Baxter signed a 10-year contract. Tom Wilson wants to spend his whole career here. John Carlson wants to spend his whole career here. We bring in people from other organizations, and they excel here, and they say,

this is where I want to play. we talked about turning Washington, D.C. into a destination, you know, check. It's done. Players want to play here. Players want to stay here. But all roads lead to Alex. I mean, he is a once-in-a-generation, once-in-a-lifetime player, but his fidelity and integrity and his love for Greater Washington and the fan base. is really a testament to the kind of person that he is. And, you know, now I'm proud that we have a team that after he does retire, we have the best prospect on the planet awaiting coming into our lineup. In fact, probably will join the team after the NCAA. and he leads the NCAA in goals. His team is ranked first in the NCAA,

and Leonard could be another one. Yeah, Brian Leonard, it can be one of those kids that we drafted. He decided to go to college, and he could be a star very, very quickly in the league, and he could be like the big Trade Day edition, if you will, but it's very possible that he could join us and playing the playoffs this year. Look, it is a testament to you and the organization that players want to play in Washington and that this player in particular has played his entire career here

and will set one of the more hallowed marks as a capital start to finish. What's your relationship been like with Alex over the years? Give us a sense of, you know, owner, greatest goal score of all time relationship. You know, has it been close? Has it ever been strained? Just give us a sense of that, if you don't mind. I think we've handled the relationship in the right way in that you can't get overly buddy-buddy.

but Alex has been respectful. He's never asked to meet with me to say, trade this player, fire this coach. It's always been, hey, I want to win, tell me what we're going to do to improve. do you want to hear my ideas on what we need? But it hasn't been... I go to dinner with him. You know, all we hang out on the road. I promise his family, his mom and dad,

his dad, God rest his whole, was a really great guy. And you'd have to speak through translators. And then remember, his mother became his agent, that we would be in this together and that we wanted to create a situation that Alex could be the best player, the best father, the best husband, the best breadwinner possible, and that he had to feel that the city was behind him. the fans were behind him, the organization was behind him. And there was a responsibility on him. Play hard all the time.

I mean, the Russian machine never breaks. He's been available to us 94% of the time. He is the most reliable player, maybe in the history of all sport. Right. The man plays all the time, and, you know, he's earned this opportunity to break this record. And why no one thought he could do it was the intensity in his game and how he hits. He still, when he wants now, can separate a player from the puck. and you know the man's just been a phenomenon and his energy and leadership as our captain has been just exemplar in the league

and you know the league and Wayne Gretzky who I have spent a lot of time with is incredibly he is the classiest athlete imaginable Right. And he says because when he broke Gordy Howe's records, Gordy Howe was there for him, and Wayne's dad told him, someone one day will break your record, and you should be appreciative and supportive and a part of the process because you're handing down this great tradition. Right.

And whoever does break your record is going to be worthy of it. It's not like a fluke, right? This is a body of work. And so Wayne talks to Alex all the time. I don't think Alex thought until about a year ago that he could do it. He wasn't focused on it. He didn't want to jinx it. But I do think last year you kind of do the math and it was like, yeah, if I can get 20, 30, 40 goals a year,

a year, yeah, I'll get this record. But I don't want to do it as a side show. I want it to be in context with a good team. And so here we are. You can break the record, and we have the most points in the NHL. So I love it when a plan comes together. Considering two things, one, Gretzky's all-time popularity among NHL fans, and that Alex is Russian, how will it be received when he breaks the record?

I think none of that matters. I think it's, you know, you'll hear you'll score an empty net goal. It'll be, you know, the goal should have an asterisk around it. You go, well, you know, Alex missed a whole bunch of time. Yarmie Yager missed a whole bunch of time with lockouts, playing overseas. I think that the body of work speaks for itself. I think Alex's best-selling merchandise. I think he's one of the more popular players in the league history.

I think he's certainly over the last 20 years, number one, number two, most popular. And he and Sidney Crosby changed the face of the NHL. You have to give both of them credit, you know, the analogy of their like Larry Bird and Magic coming in at the same time, big rivals growing into huge mutual respect for one another. You remember where the NHL was? We had a lockout. There was no salary cap. And now the NHL, you saw it in the four nations,

unbelievably popular, unbelievably compelling entertainment. I thought the two games, U.S. versus Canada on ABC, and then ESPN. Those were really great moments to build off of for the league. And, you know, hockey players, their competitiveness, they're wanting to win for their country, they're wanting to win for their team. It just comes through the screen.

It comes through your iPhone. It certainly comes through when you come to a game. Sunday's game was as loud as any game that we've had. And, you know, people just want to be able to say, I was there when. And that's been the great thing about Alex. It's like every moment has a feel when he has the puck of a kind of a big event, something big important is going to happen. And so the drama, the demand for, you know, the rest of the games this season,

and if it goes in the next season, I think is going to be just sky high. All right. You mentioned the Four Nations and the success of it and the player commitment to it. As an NBA owner, what, if anything, did you take from that experience that you think can perhaps aid in fixing, you know, the NBA All-Star weekend, the game. Yeah. You know, it's kind of apples and oranges because... Yes.

One's a tournament, one's a game. Yeah. Yeah, the NHL All-Star weekend has been heavily criticized. Why? Because no one plays defense. And there's no hitting. It's not hockey. Right.

And I do think that the union, and the NHL did something great here to take advantage of when was the last time Canada played the U.S. in the Olympics and a world championship. It was like nine years, right? Wasn't it, 2016? Yeah. A decade ago, exactly. And so there was this pent-up demand for it, and ABC owns ESPN or ESPN, or ESPN, ABC, Disney, and that game on Saturday night was on ABC, available to everybody. And nine seconds into the game, there was a fight. And it wasn't theater. It was, we want to send a signal to you that this is not an exhibition tournament.

This is a real game. Our lives depend on this. our reputations depend on them. And at the same time, and I'll note, it's the first time I haven't been to an NBA All-Star game in forever. And first time I've got to spend Valentine's Day with my wife because just the schedule. And so I'm watching on television the Four Nations,

and then I'm watching the three-point shooting contest and the dunk contest. And the three-point shooting contest is in Golden State. And Steph Curry is the best shooter on the planet. And he showed that in the Olympics, right? In Paris, he was unconscious. But he's not participating in the three-point shooting contest. And he's not participating in shooting. in shooting against a WNBA player.

And so there's other players, and it was compelling and good. It was like any other three-point shooting exhibition. They're not fighting for anything. You know, they're not going to be on their wiki page. There'll be a little entry that says they won the three-point shooting contest. But it was entertainment. it wasn't basketball, but it was juxtaposed against like world-class competition.

Right. So what's the solution? What's the solution in the NBA? So, you know, I don't have like a big say in it, but here's what I believe. I believe that the NBA is the, and basketball, basketball, is the second most engaged sport on the planet. After some. Two billion, yep, two billion people around the world.

They want to watch, they want to play, they have a family member that's engaged in at the school they go to. Basketball is central to their time. And we have NBA Africa. We've been talking about NBA Europe. There's NBA China. There's the G-League. There's the WNBA.

It is a global sport. And it probably makes sense. If you look 20 years down the road, the next 25 years, there should be NBA in Europe, NBA in Africa, NBA in China, NBA in North America. And then one day there should be a true world champion. So having some kind of tournament, 40% of the players in the NBA today were not born in the U.S. So I do think that there is some precedent for this. The issue is, we already have a tournament, right, that we've built in season for the networks. and do the players want to play a regular season,

a in-season tournament where there's money and pride at stake? Well, it's also a part of the regular season 82. Yeah. So it's not like you're adding games to it with the exception of, I guess, the two championship participants. And then have a tournament around the All-Star game, and then the playoffs. That's a lot of basketball.

So it probably, there's a challenge there, and the union and the players and the best players in the world have to say, this is important to us in growing the game. And I do think that the current generation of players, the big stars, they've already conquered the world, right? LeBron already conquered the world. Steph Curry's already conquered the world. But the next generation of player, I do think could be very, very interested in seeing a Europe team or, you know, they chop up the world into different segments of the country and play against the U.S. And then it almost becomes different styles, too. You know, it's a lot of talk right now about who are better fundamental players.

Yeah, of course. Players to play the NPAA are players that play in Europe, right? And so it'll be, but Adam Silver, Gary Beppin, these are great executives, great leaders. and they're running like Fortune 500 mega companies, you know, with hundreds of billions and more kind of collective value. And I do think that the NHL got a big, huge win, and I'm hoping they can replicate it, but it'll be very helpful to the league as we go into our next media negotiation. Yeah, with 9 million people watching it, yeah.

That'll help. So you said something, I mean, when you talked about, you know, they've conquered the world, the stars, LeBron, stuff, et cetera. And it sounds to me like you probably agree with me. And my take on this very simply put is the NHL got it right, but they also had total player buy-in. And the truth of the matter is today's generation of NBA players can't be bothered with this. it's not important to them. So no matter what you put together for this generation of NBA players, I don't think it would succeed.

And it sounds to me like you would lean in that direction. Fair or not? Well, you know, a lot of people thought that about the in-season tournament. Right. And the in-season tournament became really, really important. And I'll never forget Janus in Milwaukee talking about this tournament. is important to us, but you know what's really important to? The younger players of the players at the end of the bench, because they're making league minimum, and they could, if we win the

tournament, get a million dollars. And you know what? That's significant to them. And let's go win this for them. And the competitiveness in the tournament was really, really great. And it's just what will be the motivation for them to want to play? Because some NHL players got hurt, right? Yeah. One of the reasons that we all played hurt. Yes. One of the reasons that owners sometimes don't like the Olympics is, well, they're going to

play, they're on the contract with us. You get insurance, but if they get hurt and they miss the rest of the season, reason, it's our fans, it's our franchise that takes the big whiff, not the Olympics, right? So I like the Olympics are a charitable organization, and, you know, we would send in the NHL to the Winter Olympics half a billion dollars worth of the contract, and we'd shut the league down for a couple of weeks, right? But the players, the players in collective bargaining and and atmospherically say, we love the experience of playing for our country. You talk to tennis players, and they say, we play for ourselves all the time.

We eat what we kill. But boy, Davis Cup, the Olympics, when you're playing for your country, there's something magical about that. Now, the Olympics is every four years, right? and how will we fit this in all the time. I think the NHL caught lightning in a bottle a little bit, you know, in that it hadn't been in 10 years, but also we had, you know, the Pitchard brothers, right,

who really, really cared this. You heard their father say, this is the most important game of your life, right? Holy macko. I think there are a different breed hockey players. I mean, I hear you on the in-season tournament, but those are regular season games. You know, they're real games. They count in the standings and the whole thing. I would love to see that weekend, last weekend, become significant on the sports calendar again

because it's not as significant as it was, you know, 10 years ago. Certainly not, you know, when I was, you couldn't wait for All-Star weekend, which seems like, you know, years ago now. Let's talk a little bit about the way. If LeBron went into the dunk contest and Steph was in the three-point shooting contest, because that's right. I mean, you remember Larry Bird in the three-point shooting contest? Sure. Who's playing for second?

That's one of the great blind fast talk of all time, right? And, I mean, it built his legacy, right? Now, we had at the dunk contest, Mac McClung, right? He's from Virginia. Yeah, he went to Georgetown. Briefly. He's a wonderful guy. He's played one NBA game, and he's the three-time dunk contest winner.

You know, Michael Jordan. Right? Michael Jordan versus Dominique, right? Vince Carter, you had the best players who had the most hops. so maybe that is a is something that we need to get back to where the best players say this is important to the fans

this is important to the networks and you know what they show clips all the time of Michael Jordan's dunk from or Dr. Jay's dunk that was the ABA yeah that was the ABA Elstar game right that was feared in your mind

though right maybe maybe that's a first step to if you're going to be an All-Star and you're going to go participate in these things. Right. Right? But again, like I said, they just don't seem to be interested in that. They don't want to be bothered with it. And with respect to the three-point shooting contest

and the dunk contest, that's not the game itself, which the last time we played one ended 211 to 186. And whatever we watched last Sunday night was a debacle, really. I mean, it was difficult to follow, and they were still, Steph was still pulling up from half court in the midst of what was supposed to be something resembling a competition. But I want to move on because I do want to ask you about the Wizards because I've said for my entire life, I'm old enough to remember, okay?

I was at those 1978 championship games with my father. against Seattle, 79 defending the title. This has been a team that's been very near and dear to my heart, and I'm very passionate about, and I've always felt like it was the true sleeping giant in town, that if the Wizards ever legitimately contended for an NBA title in May and June, and they were playing games in late May and in early June, this would be a massive deal. It would be the clear cut number two in this town to the football team. Now, you've entered into a process, which, by the way, I'm in favor of, that we all hope eventually produces something big.

But there's pain in getting there, and I'm wondering, because you're a basketball guy, I don't know that everybody understands that. You know, growing up where you grew up in New York, basketball was a love for you. How are you dealing with this right now? Is it hard for you to watch this team that doesn't win really at all, but understand that it's part of a bigger picture. How are you dealing with the night in and night out right now of an 82 game season where your team doesn't have a chance?

I am very, very excited because, you know, I participated actively in the rebuild with risk, with the capitals. You'd almost say twice, and I've seen very positive outcomes on it. Our WNBA team, you know, Mike Tebow retired, he was the winningest coach in the WNBA. Our team made the playoffs, I think, 12 of 13 years. We went to the finals, and then we won a championship. Our e-sports teams are the best in the world. Our building, right, what we just did with the inauguration, we were called the world's most important

Doreena. Never before. I had a president, vice president, all the cabinet members, leaders of the Senate and Congress, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, it didn't matter. They were all here. This is a really, really important city, and we have built really world-class franchises,

which just haven't gotten it right in the NBA. It's difficult. You know, when I bought the team, we were not very good. we traded all of our players, and we won the first round pick in the draft, and we got Sean Wall, and then we drafted Bradley Beale and Otto Porter. We had three max players, all young players. The team was going through the playoffs.

I think we had 49 wins. We lost the Boston in the game seven. We were turning it around. we had room to sign good free agents. And then, frankly, injuries really hurt. Otto Porter, his hip. But we had to pay Otto the max because he signed a term sheet to go to Brooklyn. John Wall just had a history of injuries,

and he wasn't the same player that we drafted with that. great upside. The reason he got a Supermax deal from us was he qualified to be a Supermax by being, you know, all NBA and X-time All-Sar and the like. Brad Deal, who was a top three pick in the draft. And there isn't one player that we missed on on those three. You know, when you went through the draft, like John Wall was clearly the number one pick in that draft. Evan Turner went second. Well, we don't have to talk about the 2011 draft. Yeah, okay. You know, Jan Vesley is not someone that, you know, they whipped on. We whipped on. But we went young and we had upside and injuries derailed does. And we still had a very high payroll. And we made some trades. And we just never put it together. And, you know, even the last year before we said, I need to move on. and not be stuck in the middle and not perform to middle standards.

We had Porzingis. You know, Porzingis gets traded to Boston. He wins a championship the next year. Right. He's a very unique player. And so what I decided to do was you can't take half steps. So we totally rebuilt our front office. they totally rebuilt the coaching staff, and they put in a philosophy,

and they're Sam Presti, they're part of the Sam Presti free. They're very creative, they're very young, they're very innovative, they're not shy about trading, and, you know, I can't even count anymore. I know. Well, I think it's something like 16 second rounders or something like that. But so how, though, are you dealing this, dealing with this on a night-in-night-out basis? I had the greatest time last night. It was awesome.

Because they won. Because they won. No, I had a great time at the Milwaukee game the other night, right? Okay. All right. We were, we played great and we lost because we're young and we didn't have a closer. Last night, Marcus Mark played, and the young guys were playing well, but Marcus drew a charge against a young player in Brooklyn. And then we came down, hit a three, and then we had a steal defense, and we scored foul shot.

We win the game. Marcus was running off the court. I said, this is going to love this. I said, welcome to D.C., thank you. And the game turned on you drawing the charge. And you looked right down and he said, yes, it did. Look, he's the grandfather on the team at this point at 31 years old or whatever he is. All right, so is there.

And next year's draft. I was going to ask you about that. I know. Next year's draft and the year after's draft are very. very strong. Ted. So if you were not going to be competitive, these are the years. These are the years. So that's where I wanted to go. But first, we're going to take a break. And when we come back, I will ask you how much of Cooper Flagg, the presumed number one pick in the 2025 draft you have watched. We will do that and a lot more with Ted Leonis right after these words from a few of our sponsors.

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Remember to head to Zbiotics.com. That's Z-B-I-O-T-I-C-S dot com slash Sheen and use the cost. Code Sheehan at checkout for 15% off. If you get a chance to rate and review the show, especially on Apple and Spotify, it's a big help for us following this show, just at the plus button or the follow button on Apple and Spotify is a big deal for us as well. We continue with Tedliancis, and we left off with the process that the wizards are going through right now, which will, you know, lead hopefully to something.

down the road, but the process includes taking a lot of swings in the draft and a lot of big early swings in the draft and hoping to connect on one or two of them. And this upcoming draft in June of 25, Ted, will have a player at the top of it that many believe could be a transformative franchise changer. That player is Duke's Cooper Flag. You're a basketball fan. And how much of Cooper Flag have you watched? Have you been paying attention to? He's a really, really good prospect. And there's a lot of, that's what's exciting.

There's four or five players that could be difference makers, but they're prospects, right? So we have people that, you know, Troy Weaver, we have great, great staff now, Michael. is built, Michael and Will have built an unbelievable staff. You know, Travis is a great, great talent evaluated. Troy Reeves is a great, great talent evaluated. Detroit's

doing pretty good right now. Mostly young kids. True. Players that Detroit brought in there, right? So they're really, really excited about the depth here. Okay. And I think that there's three, four,

four, maybe five players that can, you know, be in your rotation. But the NBA, you know, Victor Mignayana is a, you know, I've never seen a player like him. I agree. He played the other night. It was, and it was like, yeah, it was unbelievable, right? Yeah, honestly, the definition of an athlete unicorn. And it's, you know, hopefully he gets healthy because that would seem. a bit scary the the the situation he has no look but the days of like in the NFL yeah you get a

unicorn quarterback and the team improves and goes deep into the playoffs yeah that's not happening in it victor couldn't do that with san antonio no last year or this year right i mean and and you play a lot of minutes in the NBA but But, you know, a quarterback in the NFL can turn the franchise around quickly. Alex Oveskin, Sidney Crosby, their first couple years, they didn't make the team championship caliber, right? You play 20, 25 minutes in the NHL. LeBron was playing 40 minutes in the NBA. It took many years to make it great.

And so, you know, it's different sport by sport. But if you get enough, you know, the philosophy that Michael and the staff have is, you got to get, you got to get at that, you know. We first round picks last year. Yeah, understood. I think all three kids are going to be in the league, right? Right. I think all three kids are going to play.

But you need to win a title, the last NBA team to win a title with a, a clear cut top five superstar on the roster, the 2004 Pistons. That's how far back you have to go. So the swings, I think we all understand. You've got to keep taking swings, and the more swings you get, the better chance you'll land on that transcendent, transformational, franchise-changing, you know, player like Washington did with Jaden Daniels and football. But so I think everybody's, I am, at least, I'm all.

for this process because this is the one. What was our choice? Right? Because you can manage to the cap, but bring in one free agent. Yeah. And in the new NBA, you need depth. You need seven, eight, nine players. You look at, you know, our pace of play is what I'm watching for and is exciting.

our ability to play positionless basketball, which is all the rage. We have a guard who's six, eight, right? And you need long bodies. You need players who can hit threes. You need players who can score and transition. The hardest thing in the NBA is to get players to play good team defense. That was the thing I was watching with Marcus Smart last night. The guy didn't shut up on defense.

Yack, yak, yak, yak, yak. It was like, oh, that's what the mean. You got to talk on defense. Iso. I know, I so. I got them low, right? Go, go through the pick. I'm going to the three.

I mean, he was like a defensive coach on there. And you could tell he was enjoying mentoring the young kids. one player was having a tough game, and the two vets, Chris Middleton, kept going up to him and say, shake it off, keep your head up. Don't talk to the ref. You haven't earned the refs' respect to listen to you. Don't save your energy, right? It was like a clinic watching those guys.

The experience that the young kids are getting in this rebuild is really going, to fortify them as they grow up. Is there of the truly young players, you know, whether it's Ballal or any of the three first rounders from this year, you know, Alex, Kaishan, or Bub, are any of them, do you think, you know, have you landed? I'll just tell you, I don't, I think all four of those are going to be rotation players. They're NBA players. That's really good.

I think Saar is a sleeper in that. He's so big, he's so long, he can run for days, he can rebound. He's working on his three-point shot. He was the second pick in the draft. Defensively, he has natural gifts. I think he could be a really good player, but if you add another really good player with him, he becomes a better player, right? I think Bilal has things in his repertoire that he pulls out.

and you go, wow, where did that come from? He's shooting trees. He played really, really well yesterday, shooting trees. He got big steals. He gets rebounds. He can jump through the building. He's got really big hands, really long. That's what you want, right?

So, I mean, Oklahoma City right now has probably the best team in the NBA. They've got nine or ten high draft picks. that are all playing positionless basketball and one guy who's MVP quality. But he couldn't do it alone, right? He's in a rotation, and that's what you've got to do. And the only way you can build the team like that is to have a lot of first-round picks and a lot of draft capital. How much NBA do you watch?

I watch a lot of NBA. I watch a lot of NHL. the thing that's different about the NBA and the NHL is thus, the best teams playing the best basketball that go into the playoffs. Usually are the teams that are the best teams and win the championship. That's right. The NHL, it's really... Random.

It's different, right? I mean, you have, I remember a couple years ago, you know, Philadelphia makes the playoffs the last game. of the season by winning it overtime, and they're in the finals, right? L.A., the Kings, they're out of it. New Year's Day. They rally, they make the playoff the last game of the season, and they win the Stanley Cup by winning four seven-game series. Yeah.

It's like, wow. Look, you used to say, you said for many years, and I talked about this, you said, I'm going, and we're going to work to put together a team that wins enough games to be a part of the playoffs every year. But in that sport, that's what you have to do because anybody can win it once you get there. And you guys had a lot of bad luck with some really good teams. You had some bad puck luck along the way. So thank God what happened in 2018 happened again. And maybe it's in the cards. But you're 100% right. The NBA and a best to seven, the best team pretty much wins. You want us to win the president's trophy?

this season? Why? Because if I said yes, will it jinx it? Well, I mean, someone asked me that the other day. I said, oh, so what do you want us to do? Well, right. Be the recede. Yeah. We want you to lose so that we don't have the best record. Right. I mean, like any competitive. But I believe in the curse. I will say you get a president's trophy and I would get mine and I would hide it in the closet and I never mentioned it and then we

won the Stanley Cup in a year that we didn't have our best team we had some we had some president trophy winning teams that were awesome right and if they had won

Stanley Cup that year you'd say oh they were one of the best teams in 2020 yep there you go But after we won the Stanley Cup, I brought the President's trophies out, and I displayed them proudly. Because it says, we won a Stanley Cup. We had the second most playoff appearances in 25 years, and in three of those years we had the best record during the regular season. That's all a part of your body of work as owners.

But unless you win the Cup, and that's what's so clarifying, the mystics, they won a ring. The nationals, they won the World Series. The commanders, they've won Super Bowls, right? You've got to win the ring. You've got to win the championship. And then the body of work goes in the context. Thank God you got yours in 2018, because those president's trophies, which actually are reflective of real accomplishment,

would be mocking you over that. It's unfair. there, but it comes with the territory. It's like, okay, tell me, in anything for you in high school, were you best in the class three times? You don't have the best grades, you didn't have the most points, whatever. But I get it. But now it's like, well, let's win another cup.

Sure. Back to Cooper Flagg for a moment. have you penciled out you're a data person you're a projection person have you penciled out what Cooper flag might mean for the wizards just in incremental revenue

no you haven't done that no don't you think that the first American born he might not even he might not even declare for the draft and remember because

trust the process change the way the lottery system works. I know. 14%. We could finish with the worst record and pick fifth. Yep, I get that. Let's hope that doesn't happen. Because I honestly think...

But the odds say... I hear you. Yeah, it's only a 14% chance. I get that. I just think that... Who do we think for that, by the way? Who should we say? Josh Harris.

Josh Harris, yeah, exactly. Josh is my buddy. I know, but that's why it changed. It did, right? And look at them now, right? I mean, they've lost eight in a row. It's so bad watching it. It's a disaster.

But this is the kind of player, though, that when I've sort of dreamt about, you know, the wizards land on that transcendent player, You know, and it comes at number one. They might be cut. By the way, might come at number five. Who knows? We look at Yanis.

We look at Kauai. We've seen Yokic, the best player in the NBA, arguably, went in the second round. But Cooper Flagg, forget the talent, which is unmistakable. And I'm not putting them in the Wembeenjama class because he's not, you're right about young players. It's an old players league. He's going to win titles, though it certainly looks like they're going to be a major contender. But I think about what Cooper Flag would do for your franchise. You know, the first American-born white player to be drafted number one overall since Kent Benson,

a dukey, for starters, that makes it even a little bit more sort of, it brings a cachet to it. The best player in America right now, he's going to win national player of the year. I think the atmosphere, even though I would understand, and basketball people would understand, and it's going to take some time, but that would be an exciting get. Don't you think that would be much different than any of the other opportunities you've had over the years, drafting really high? Yeah, it's really inappropriate for an owner of a team that doesn't have a good record to talk about who in the draft. You don't know when you're picking, and there's so much still to happen for the rest of the year.

and you got, we also have a WNBA draft. We made news yesterday. We traded. Okay. But it might be inappropriate, but you're a basketball person, and this is the... You're not going to get me there for headlines that says something about the way to do it. I want to know if you're watching Cooper Flang. I want to know if you're watching and dreaming about somebody like Cooper Flagg.

Maybe it's a spaley or Dylan Harper. I didn't go to the game in Maryland. Which game? But when Duke plays Maryland, I didn't go to the game. We had lots of scouts there, right? No, Duke didn't play Maryland. Duke doesn't play Maryland. No, Duke will play Maryland.

No, we're not in the ACC anymore. We've been in the Big Ten for 11 years now. 11 years. I thought that Bernard did, Muir, by the way, just stepped down in Stanford after winning 30 championships across all sports. He was Georgetown's athletic director, right? And he moved the team from West. And it's a big part of the issues that we're all facing with NIL and in college sports, right?

You don't know who's playing in what. No, it's true. Well, look, you're a Georgetown guy, and you didn't even know that Marilyn was in the Big Ten. What game? Wait, what game did I watch the other night? You played Illinois? Yeah, they played Illinois in the garden. I watched that game. Yeah, they looked pretty good. Yeah.

That was not a... The old boot team looked pretty good. That was an out-of-conference kind of late season made for TV matchup. All right, let's move on. Tell me about what Capital One Arena is going to look like when the renovation's done. And what's the timeline on it? Well, I don't want it to look like Madison Square Garden where they spent an incredible amount of money, and it looks pretty much the same.

Now, there's unbelievable changes in infrastructure and fundamentals in the building. I just think that we have the opportunity to do something that is very player-centric, employee-centric, then fan-centric, and then neighborhood-centric. And so it's going to be a three-to-four-year transformation. It's already started. We were able to work with the city and the landlord next door at the mall, and we've basically reclaimed 300,000 or so new square feet. And so the first set of work that's being done, and by the way, in D.C., we can't go up, and we couldn't go down because of the metro, so we had to go.

Right. Right. And so the first work that's going on is on that entry level where the players' locker rooms are, and the kitchens were, and family rooms are, how do we make that bigger, more world-class, better facilities for the applications? leads better kitchen so that we can serve better food not only to the players, but you know, that's where they cook to bring up to the sweets and the like. And so there's a lot of work that's already commenced going into the mall, going into the way the old bedbath and beyond used to be. And that'll be a fundamental, if you will, and, you know, most fans won't experience it. The second year off-season,

We'll start in the bowl. And, you know, we've already had to start communicating to fans because we have to make new suites. We have to change some of the lighting. We have to move some of the seats around. And that's going to be a lot of work. And, you know, I've told everybody all the work has to be done during the offseason. And please don't tell me that you don't want the teams to make. the playoffs. We should want the teams to play all the way into June. No, no, no, no. We need to start

working in late April on this arena. So make sure nobody advances. Right. They work right now. When I left the game last night, left the building about 10 o'clock, there was drilling and banging and walls going down. I mean, they're doing a great, great job of, you know, three shifts a day, double time, you know, when afterwards, I mean, they're moving because, you know, the caps are going to be in the playoffs this year. And so next year will be, next off-season will be a lot of work going on in the bowl. And then the following year will be, how do we tie it all outside and connect the mall? And if you go to the portrait gallery across the street, love it. From a Smithsonian, there's that big roof.

that gives you that indoor, outdoor feel, and the lighting is really great. Well, that's what we're going to have to do with this new mesh technology that connects the mall area and our new office building, which is on 6th Street where our studio is. We're going to move our offices there, so we reclaim some office space that's in the building right now, and that can get turned into more fan-oriented things. So it's a major, major reorientation. We're partnering with the city.

We already put $200 million into the building in the last couple of years. The city's committed to $515 million. We committed to $300. We already put in $200, but we have to do cost overruns. And there's never been a project of this size and scale, whether it's not cost overruns. So think about this. When Mr. Poland built this building, it was a $200 million project, but $150 million or so for the building itself.

Right. Now we're probably going to be in for a billion dollars in a rehab of the building 25 years later. Wow. And so I'm insisting on it better not be a paycheck, right? It needs to be the players come in and they're wowed, and visiting players come in and go, oh, this is a special, this is a great place, this is unique. The fans need to come in and say, oh, it's a new building. Hopefully the teams and the Wizards especially are just growing into in three years,

four years being a great, great team. Wouldn't that be spectacular to have the opening of a new building, an all-star game, the team is playing great? I mean, that's what we need to be envisioning in three, four years. And then the outside needs to use all of the newest technology, all of the creativity, because what's the building going to look like situated 25 years from now? Right. Now, this building is 25 years old.

It looks pretty old from the outside. inside, because we've spent $200 million, we've done a good job of keeping it relevant and clean and bright and making investments throughout, but we haven't been able to do anything really outside. So I want to make sure that in 25 years people can look at the building and think, oh, that's still a cool building. And I think our architects are working on that in conjunction with the city and all the regulatory bodies to make sure that we can have something that looks fresh, looks modern, looks bright, and 25 years from now, it'll fit within the community, but, you know, it can't be, it can't look old before its time.

And, you know, the other day I was watching ancient aliens. Have you ever seen ancient aliens? I have not. I don't know. Is it on Discovery? It's history challenge. Okay. And the notion was, well, what happens when if there are beings from another planet, and they make themselves known?

Well, where are they going to come? They're probably going to come to Washington, D.C., and New York and L.A. and London, to announce themselves. And I said, we want to make sure that we have a building that's like relevant. cool and they go, oh, we want to be there. That's where we're going to land right between the White House and Capitol One Arena. And I know it sounds silly, but we have to build a new front door to the city for downtown. We need to find a way to get the 35 million tourists that are on the wall that never come to downtown to say, I want to come see this.

We need to make it. That's why built this art gallery. I don't know if you've come yet to see the Harry Benson, gallery. I know you were a big part of it. What was today? What was today in history? Yeah. What was today in history? Yeah. I don't know. Tell me. Today was the anniversary of the... Oh, this Clay Leicester, in 64. I thought you were going to tell me it was U.S. over Russia in 80. I think now. Okay.

And on Netflix, there's a new documentary, Martin Scorsese, the Measel Brothers, on the Beatles come to America. They go in Washington. Yeah. They play in Washington. Yep. They go to the embassy, and then they go to be on the Ed Sullivan show in Miami. Yep.

And Clay is fighting listen. And I'm looking at the photo. Send the photo, Bob, to them. and that was the two weeks that changed the world in popular culture. That's Harry Benson was on the plane with the Beatles, and he put together, he went with them to D.C. for the concert, and then went to Miami and met Cassius Clay because Sonny Liston refused to meet with the Beatles. Said, I don't know who these bums are, and I'm praying for a championship fight.

Right. Right. I think he used a more. profane term, but yes. It's, that's exactly it. And, yep. And if you come to our gallery, I own the largest collection, Jeff Scholl and I, my partner and close friend, we own the largest collection of Harry Benson photos.

And that's what it is. Yeah, it's an incredible collection I've heard. Yep. And when Benson took those photos of the Beatles and Cassius Clay, every editor of every magazine in America said, get me that guy. and then he was able to shoot every single president and first ladies, and then every celebrity, and all roads led to Washington, D.C. So I met him in Florida, and as I started collecting, I said,

you need to tell me the history of every photo, and I'll buy it, and I want to be the tender, if you will, of this history, as how it relates to D.C. and sports and music and politics and policy and celebrity, all crescendo here in Washington, D.C. We just hope they're not aliens. Yeah, as long as they're not. The aliens will be here. They'll be here soon enough, and they'll be certainly going to come here.

Do you know that the first sporting event that my father ever took me to was an ABA basketball game at the Washington Coliseum, which the Washington Caps, they were the Oakland Oaks, they moved from Oakland to Washington or vice versa, I forget, and Rick Barry played for the Washington Caps. And my father was a big ABA guy, he was a big AFL guy. I was an ABA guy, too, because we couldn't afford NBA game. Right. My first NBA owners meeting was hanging out a little bit with David Stern, and I said,

I remember going to an ABA playoff game at the Felt Forum, the Nets versus Virginia, and I saw Dr. J. play in the Felt Forum. And David Stern said, you're full of it. That never happened. You might be daydreaming. I said, David, let's go to the Google machine, and they played at the Felt Forum. Wow. That's how small the ABA was then.

But I remember those days, well, Billy Melchione and Rick Barry and Dr. Jay. You know who played for the Virginia Squires? Was Dr. Jay briefly with George Gervin? George Gervin with the ice man. he had the finger roll. But how about Gervyn and Dr. Jay on the same team? I know. They both played at the scope.

They played at the scope in Norfolk, Virginia. All right. Going down history, yeah, the Beatles played at the Washington Coliseum in early February, in 1964. By the way, the story about that is that they were going to fly into Washington, but there was a snowstorm. They flew into New York and trained down, and that was the first.

show and Beatlemania was already a thing when they arrived and DC was the first city to see the Beatles life. Yeah, in the U.S. And then if you watch this movie or you come to the Harry Benson thing, they interview, Martin Scorsese interviews Harry Benson in the movie because he was there. They went to the British embassy and the wife of the British ambassador tells the Beatles, you have brought great shame on your country. Why are you dressed like this?

And she pulls out of scissors, and she cuts Ringo's hair in the back. Yeah, right. And John Lennon goes, that's it. We're out. And they storm out of the embassy. And the queen calls the ambassador and says, you must issue a public apology.

Are you out of your mind? And they almost recalled the ambassador because, as White said, you know, you're not priming proper, you're not very British the way you're dressed and the way you're acting. And then they go to Miami to be on the Ed Sullivan show. He was going to do his show at the Fountain Blue. And John Lennon says, oh, there's the championship fight. And Sonny Liston is the baddest man on the planet. I want to meet him.

and he's going to kill Cassius Clay. And they go to see Sunny Liston, and Liston says, not interested. So they go to Cassius Clay, Harry Benson meets with him, and he says, sure, why not? And the Beatles, it's a famous photo, I just thank you of... Yeah, I've seen it many times. Play punches George. And Harry said, look, I knew the Beatles very well. I knew them personally, and they were very clever, very smart.

They were on top of their game. And within five minutes of meeting Cassius Clay, he had them, who's the prettiest man on the planet? Who's the smartest? He had them doing tricks for him. And John Lennon was really, really embarrassed. He said, oh, this is terrible. I can't believe what you did to us.

And that picture goes out, and it makes worldwide news. and then Clay beats Liston. The Beatles are on the second time when the Ed Sullivan show, and they become the five most recognized people on the planet. Boom, in a two-week period. All right, you've been so generous with your time, and I am enjoying this. I've got a couple more if you've got time. Okay, sure.

All right, first of all, what did you think of Washington's football team this year in the season it had? You've always been a rising tide lifts all boats guy. No, absolutely thrilled. Love the team. Love Josh. Love Mark I. I thought the greatest thing that could happen to the city.

And, you know, as I've said, it's not like we're competing with them, right? It's not like people say, I'm not going to go to a Caps game. I'm going to go to a football game. We're doing fine. They should do fine. Our business is really, really, really, really. big. And so I don't worry about the business implications of them doing better. I think a rising tide will raise all boats. It's not like they can be on my network or they have a competing network,

right, because the NFL, everything is controlled by the league itself. So I couldn't be happier for the city and the fans. And it was fantastic. I mean, I enjoyed it. And, you know, they come to our games. we go to their games, it's like a very, very nice Karetsu. Well, it makes a difference when the ownership is easy to communicate with, I would imagine. How do you feel about the possibility of the football team returning to the old RFK site? You know, I live in Maryland, and you know we were at one point going to Virginia. the commanders practice in our headquartered in Virginia. But I went to games at RFK.

I know how exciting the games were back then and there. Modern nostalgia is very, very important as a trend. And so I have no idea how the movie ends. I'm not in any of the discussions. But it would be quite a coup for our mayor, I've nominated our mayor as the sports executive of the year, right? I mean, if you think about it, if the mayor was able to keep us, and they're able to do their new deal with the nationals that Phil Mendelsohn and city council is working on,

and they did the deal with Congress for the national parks to get RFK rezoned and under their control. And if the commanders came back, that is quite the trifector for our mayor. And I think would make you one of the most powerful people in sports. Last one. Did you expect the reaction you got when you announced that you guys were headed to Potomac Yards?

Yes and no. I mean, I'll be honest with you. Michael Wilbon, Tony Cornheiser, you know, they're over the top. You know, they have their playbook. Was I a villain for doing it? I mean, you don't like hearing stuff like that, right? But it's, you know, it's an old tired playbook, but people glammed onto it. and we were going three and a half miles away.

That's where we were going. Michael Wilbon lives in Phoenix. Bradley Beale had a no trade contract, and he got traded to Phoenix. And for him to go on and say that we were, we should stay, I thought was very, very, I didn't think it was appropriate. Right, but to be fair, it wasn't just Mike and Tony.

No, but they started it, and now people were jumping on that bandwagon. But you know what? It's in the rearview mirror, and we're here. It's fantastic, right? And so all well that ends well, and we have a lot of work now to do to make downtown D.C. come back to life. A lot of the things that we talked about needing to happen are happening. And one thing that I'll say, one thing that I'll say is that, for the best interest of our fans, yeah, maybe being in D.C. is great, but Metro has to work, and it needs to be

safe around. And we've partnered now with the city, and it's great. This Sunday, we are holding a benefit for the lives that were lost when the helicopter and the plane crashed. And that is people and first responders and families that lost their loved ones. And guess where they're from? Virginia, Washington, D.C. and Maryland. We are a greater Washington community. and we were able to work with Comcast. The event will stream on Peacock and the Monumental Sports Network.

That'll be on NBC a week later. I hope this runs or you can promote on your show that buy some tickets, buy a sponsorship. A hundred percent of every dollar that we raise is going to go to either the skating community that was devastated by this loss or to the families of the people who perished or the families and the causes around the first responders. Can you imagine? I've been choked up two or three times now.

You know, first responders, they were jumping into freezing black waters with jet fuel all around and bringing up the remains of your... young children. I mean, it's indescribable what happened. And we're honored to be able to use our building and our resources and our platform. And we want to raise lots of money and give it all to those three causes. Just like you see L.A. rallying around the fires, but, you know, 15 people passed away or 20 people passed there. This was 68 families. All right, so where can people get tickets? This is a wonderful thing.

Legacy on Ice. It's Sunday at 3 p.m. Exactly. And so we just... Tickets are still available, but we will sell this out. And we need the community to come together. And, you know, the skating community is being great about this. Brian Boytano is one of the producers,

and you'll see all the Olympic skaters here. And they'll pay homage to the families and the lives of these young people. and family members. And, you know, our training facility in Virginia is where a lot of these people were coached and trained a lot of these families. And we lost people that worked for us. And when I say work for us, you know, they were coaches out in Boston. And they, you know, their families were always around.

That's why it's devastating. You go to our offices, and you'll see. flowers laid out. You'll see, you know, people, it's almost, it's very, very personal to the community. Yeah, that's wonderful. So, you know, our intent is to give back and to, you know, really not have the media move on now, right, to the next thing. This was happened in our community. And I was what the police chief of D.C. today. And, you know, she was talking about the therapy that is needed for many of the first response.

Yeah, I read about it this week. The jet, some of the physical effects from the toxins in jet fuel are, I mean, just, and the fact that, I mean, I was, I mean, it's, it's morbid, obviously, and sad, but fascinated with just the fact that the water was so cold. the temperature of the water made it very clear, not to mention that at low tide, they could essentially see everything underneath the surface. It was horrific. Awful. It was, but this will be a way to show empathy and to give back to the community. And, you know, Washington, D.C. is the most magnanimous, generous city on the planet. And I hope we can capture some of that. I'm very grateful to NBC. what they're doing with us here. Comcast lost an executive and her husband and her kids who were

skaters. And they worked with Monumental. I mean, there isn't an area of our community and our business that wasn't touched in some way. So I appreciate if you could pass the word around and, you know, let's go leave a lot of money for these. Capital One Arena.com and just click on events and tickets, and it's right there. Legacy on Ice Sunday. at 3 p.m. get tickets for it. It's for an incredible cause. Thank you for doing this. I appreciate it. It was good to see you a few months ago, and let's not wait so long to do it again. How long are we on for? How long were we on? Well, an hour in 25 minutes? An hour and 25 minutes?

No, about an hour and 15. Actually, about an hour and 15 minutes. But it's perfect for the podcast, you know, format, and I'll take some of this and run it on the radio show as well. So I appreciate it. All right. Great to see you. Great to talk to you. Talk to you later. Bye, bye.

Ted Liancis, everybody. It's been a while, man, since I had a chance to have him on the show. I've never had him on the podcast. I think the last time he was on radio with me was when I was co-hosting on radio with Tommy. And that's now nine years ago. You know, you've got to go back to 2016

for that. We did that Ted Lunch with a Legend episode from Morton's downtown. That's probably 12, 13, 14 years ago at this point. But we got together

with Ted in the fall. He had us down to Capital One in his offices and had lunch with us. Tommy and I went down there and he was very nice to host us. And he said that he would do this and I'm very glad that he did. Look, most of us, of you that listen, no, I'm a huge Wizards fan. Not nearly, you know, as much a Caps fan. I am a massive

Wizards fan, and I've always said that if they ever contended legitimately in late May, early June, this would be the number two in town. And it would be a clear cut number two. This is, at its core, a basketball city. Now, from a fan consumption standpoint, of course, it's a Skins town. You know, it's a commander's town. It's a pro football town. But in terms of participation, it's a basketball town. And Ted's a basketball guy.

And so if that ever happens and they are going through the right process, this is the chance. I mean, they've got no choice. He said that. This is not, like his hockey team, a destination for stars. and really good players. So they've got to build it through the draft. Oklahoma City, look at where they are right now. Look at where Houston's risen to.

So, you know, three, four years down the road, if they land on that, you know, transcendent player at the top of the draft, whether it's in 2025 or 2026 or who knows, maybe Alex Sar turns into that player. But if they were in position to contend for an NBA title, It would be the clear cut number two in this town, in my opinion. So anyway, all right. That's it for the day.

I'll be back tomorrow with Tommy.