Ted Leonsis Launching $10M Venture Fund For Sports Tech Startups

Ted Leonsis is starting a $10 million venture capital fund to invest in tech startups with the potential to change the way we watch and experience sports.

Leonsis revealed his plans at a tech and innovation showcase held by his Monumental Sports & Entertainment on Monday for corporate partners. It’s an area the sports mogul, Revolution Growth partner and former AOL executive knows well — the intersection of sports as a cultural passion and the promise of digital and other technologies to enhance the game experience.

It also furthers an interesting push lately for Monumental beyond being the steward of three franchises — the Washington Wizards, Capitals and Mystics — and two arenas (the Verizon Center and the EagleBank Arena at George Mason University). The company is moving aggressively to up the profile of its assets internationally and tap new revenue streams while doing it.

Leonsis said the fund will debut next year and will have its own management team reporting to Randy Boe, Monumental’s executive vice president and general counsel and a former AOL general counsel.

Leonsis is backing mobile video tech startup Kiswe Mobile as an angel investor, and Revolution recently invested $44 million in Sportradar, a data analytics firm.

Monumental is at the leading edge of virtual reality technology, thanks to a partnership with Palo Alto, California-based tech firm Strivr Labs Inc. to build team videos that are visually immersive. The 3-D experience puts the VR goggle-wearing viewer in the action to see plays and positions from different perspectives.

Leonsis said Monday he sees VR’s real potential in sponsorships: “It’s going to change everything,” he said.

Monumental has also said it will debut next month a new network delivering audio, video and other content over the Internet. And in terms oft the traditional broadcasting model, Monumental reached a deal in November 2015 with NBC Sports Group to extend media rights for the Wizards and Capitals through 2031-2032 seasons, with Monumental taking a 33 percent stake in Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic, the regional sports network that covers D.C. and Baltimore.

For Leonsis, it’s all of a piece — the brand-loyal power of sports and media. At the Monday showcase, he recounted a story about Super Bowl III, the stunning upset by the New York Jets over the Baltimore Colts and one of his favorite memories of his father. Those memories, he said, came rushing back to him decades later when he was brought to tears watching a re-run of the game.

“That’s the business that we’re in,” Leonsis said. “We make grown men cry 40 years after the fact. It’s the greatest business ever.”

Source: Washington Business Journal, Robert J. Terry
Photo: Ted Leonsis is starting a $10 million venture capital fund to invest in tech startups with the potential to change the way we watch and experience sports. (Joanne S. Lawton)