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The Washington Wizards are starting a very public rebuild, trading Bradley Beal, Kristaps Porzingis, and Chris Paul all within the last week. The team’s ownership group, Monumental Sports & Entertainment, is also making some changes behind the scenes, welcoming the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) as a minority Wizards owner, marking the first time a foreign country’s sovereign fund has invested in a major American sports franchise.
Just as news was breaking that the Wizards were flipping Chris Paul — who they got in the Bradley Beal trade — to the Golden State Warriors for Jordan Poole, reports were also coming out that the Qatar Investment Authority is making a minority investment in Monumental Sports, the group led by Ted Leonsis that owns the Wizards, the NHL’s Washington Capitals, the G League’s Capital City Go-Go, and the WNBA’s Washington Wizards along with several eSports teams and media entities.
While the reports are that the Qatari fund is “buying a passive stake (no operational control)” in Monumental Sports, this is big news.
Sovereign wealth funds of oil-rich Middle Eastern countries are slowly but surely making in-roads into sports around the world. This is happening in American sports, too, even though the Wizards and Capitals will be the first major American sports franchises connected to these government-linked investment funds.
In European soccer, this type of investment is becoming commonplace. The Abu Dhabi United Group is the majority owner of Manchester City in the English Premier League, and the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) recently bought Newcastle United.
If the PIF sounds familiar, that’s because it is the group behind LIV Golf, which has been in the news a lot lately after their announced merger with the PGA Tour.
As for the QIA, its subsidiary, Qatar Sports Investments, already owns the biggest football club in France (and one of the biggest in the world), Paris Saint-Germain.
