Qatar May Buy Stake In Washington Wizards And Capitals—A First For U.S. Team Sports, Reports Say

Topline

Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund could soon own a stake in Monumental Sports and Entertainment—the parent company of the NBA’s Washington Wizards, NHL’s Washington Capitals and WNBA’s Washington Mystic—multiple news outlets reported Thursday, potentially bringing American professional sports leagues into a new era of foreign government investment.

Key Facts

Big Number

$4.51 billion. That’s how much Monumental is valued at, per Forbes’ estimations.

Key Background

The NBA Board of Governors began allowing sovereign wealth funds to buy into its teams late last year. Foreign and domestic pension funds and institutional investors, including university endowments, are also allowed to invest in the teams. The rules also stipulate that those funds cannot own more than 20% of a team, according to ESPN. The WNBA follows the same rules as the NBA. A high-ranking NHL source told The Athletic the NHL follows similar rules to the NBA—the transaction needs approval from its Board of Governors and the fund is capped at 20% of a team.

Tangent

This would not be the first time an oil-rich Persian Gulf state has gotten involved in American sports. Saudi Arabia made headlines earlier this month when the PGA Tour and LIV Golf signed an agreement to combine the commercial businesses and rights into a new company that will have its own name following a public brawl over control of the golf tournaments in the U.S. The Public Investment Fund, the Saudi wealth fund, has significant power in the new entity. It will be able to refuse any outside capital invested, and will have “the exclusive right to further invest in the new entity,” according to a press release announcing the deal. Meanwhile, the Qataris are heavily involved in European soccer. Qatar Sport Investments, another Qatari fund, bought the French soccer club Paris Saint-Germain in 2012, and bought a stake in Portuguese soccer team SC Braga last year. The Qatari Investment Authority is also responsible for the funding behind Qatar hosting the 2022 World Cup.

Further Reading

PGA Tour And Saudi-Backed LIV Golf Agree To Sudden Merger (Forbes)