Washington Capitals and Wizards owner Ted Leonsis shared his vision for the future of sports, likening sports betting to stock market trading and predicting that esports athletes will match the fame and earnings of superstars in traditional sports.
Speaking at the Wall Street Journal Future of Everything Festival on Tuesday, Leonsis was bullish about the esports market. He noted that his esports portfolio company, Team Liquid, is now worth more than the $85 million he paid for the Capitals in 1999. Five years ago, he predicted that esports would be bigger than the NFL, the NBA, the NHL, and MLB combined because it is “endemically global.”
Leonsis also owns a team in the NBA 2K League (Wizards District Gaming) and expects that the connectivity and accessibility of esports—via Twitch and other streaming services—into international markets will raise the profile of competitors.
“I believe that, in 10 years, one NBA 2K player will be more well known, popular, and better compensated than LeBron James is today,” he said. “It’s just math.”
The former senior AOL executive also owns the Capital One Arena, the WNBA’s Mystics, half of the Arena Football League, and Monumental Sports Network. He said he’s trying to foster as much indoor sports activity as possible in his D.C. venue. Leonsis said that trends of demographics and geography have made downtown arenas “conveners” of young people much more than suburban stadiums.
To further add entertainment options, Leonsis plans to add a sportsbook into Capital One Arena and make the venue a sleek, upscale establishment.
“I want to make it like an Apple Genius bar,” he said. “I don’t want to make it a cocktail lounge.”
Leonsis has been an outspoken proponent of sports betting, referring to it as a data business as much as any other.
“People are doing it. Whenever you bring things into the sunlight, it’s going to be better,” he said. “My belief is that it’s no different than Wall Street.”