Wizards Owner Leonsis Fined for Unauthorized Comments on New Labor Deal

Added by Tania Sullivan on September 30, 2010

Ted Leonsis, the owner of the basketball team Washington Wizards, was fined $100,000 by the National Basketball Association (NBA) for unauthorized revelation of a new labor negotiation, to a group of businessmen on Wednesday, September 29, 2010.

Since 1999, Leonsis has been the majority stakeholder of the National Hockey League’s Washington Capitals. He bought over the Wizards in June 2010.

Leonsis, commented to a group of business people, in northern Virginia, that a hard cap on salary might be introduced in the NBA, similar to what the National Hockey League already had.

The union of players and the basketball league are collectively in negotiations on the new labor agreement which might come into effect from the summer of next year.

Currently, by paying a luxury tax, the basketball teams are permitted to exceed the salary cap. Leonsis is in favor of the potential new deal of a hard salary cap which could not be exceeded under any circumstance.

Reuters reported that the Associated Press quoted Leonsis as having said that “In a salary cap era — and soon a hard salary cap in the NBA like it’s in the NHL — if everyone can pay the same amount to the same amount of players, it’s the small nuanced differences that matter”.