The Qatar sovereign wealth fund, one of the largest investors in the world and a relevant shareholder in numerous international companies, is entering American professional sports. It will do so by acquiring a 5 percent equity interest in Monumental Sports & Entertainment, the group that includes the Washington Wizards men’s basketball team of the NBA, the Mystics women’s basketball team of the WNBA and the Capitals hockey team of the NHL belong to Sportico, an American media company specializing in financial information on sports.
The operation means the group is valued at $4,050 million, about €3,700 million at the current exchange rate. As such, it is an investment estimated by the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) to be around $200 million, although the information does not indicate whether debt is included in this valuation. QIA is an investment giant with a portfolio valued at more than $450,000 million. In Spain, the largest investment is 8.7% of Iberdrola worth more than 6,000 million euros.
The operation is the first known to see funds flow from the Arab country to American professional sports. QIA is a separate entity from Qatar Sports Investments (QSI), which owns the French soccer team Paris Saint-Germain, although QSI Chairman Nasser Al-Khelaifi is a director of QIA. The sovereign wealth fund is also not directly linked to Qatar’s Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al-Thani’s attempted purchase of Manchester United. Qatar organized the 2022 World Cup and is using its commitment to sport as a calling card to the world.
NBA spokesman Mike Bass, in statements collected by the AP agency, pointed out that the league’s Board of Governors decided in November to “restrict passive, minority and uncontrolled investment in NBA teams by institutional investors, including foreign and national foundation universities.” , to allow pension funds and sovereign wealth funds, subject to a number of policies then adopted”. All investments subject to league review and NBA Board approval.
“The NBA Board of Directors is currently reviewing a potential QIA investment in Monumental Sports & Entertainment, parent company of the Washington Wizards, and other sports properties,” Bass noted. “Under the policy, if approved, QIA would have a passive minority interest in the equipment without involvement in its operation or decision-making.”
Monumental Sports & Entertainment was founded and is directed by Ted Leonsis, an American businessman, investor, filmmaker, author, philanthropist and former politician who was formerly an executive at America Online. Notable shareholders include Canadian billionaire Jeffrey Skoll, eBay’s first president; billionaire businesswoman and philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs, widow of Steve Jobs; BET co-founder Sheila Johnson, the first African American woman whose fortune exceeded $1 billion; and Mark Lerner, owner of the Nationals, the baseball team from the American capital.
The Wizards are in a tricky sporting situation. They stayed out of the playoffs last season and finished twelfth in the Eastern Conference with a record of 35 wins and 47 losses. They see an onslaught of their best players, including center Kristaps Porziņģis, who travels to the Celtics; Bradley Beal moving to the Phoenix Suns and likely Kyle Kuzma looking for a new team.
The Mystics are the third of six Eastern Conference teams. The Washington Capitals, for their part, ended a poor season, finishing twelfth in the Eastern Conference and sixth in the Metropolitan Division.
The capital’s most valuable team, the Washington Commanders, is in the process of changing hands when the deal is finalized in April by a consortium led by Josh Harris, co-owner of Washington NBA basketball team the Philadelphia 76ers and New York hockey team the Jersey Devils. Along with him, billionaire Mitchel Ralles and former Los Angeles Lakers star Magic Johnson took part in the operation. The amount of the operation has not been officially announced, but it is estimated to be around $6 billion.
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