After a three-decade career at the Washington Post, Michael Wilbon traded his pen for a lengthy television career.
Though he’s synonymous with Chicago, he understands D.C. sports fans intimately.
In response to Monumental Sports & Entertainment CEO Ted Leonsis’ decision to relocate the Washington Wizards and Capitals to Alexandria, Wilbon harshly criticized the move on Pardon the Interruption last December, calling it “awful” and accusing Leonsis of abandoning the fanbase.
Wilbon likened the move to completely ripping up whatever identity the Wizards built since forming in 1974 as the Bullets.
“You’re going to take the city sport out of the city, turn your back on Washington, DC, and go to Virginia?” Wilbon asked at the time. “What does that say to your fan base that has been loyal despite zero years of contention for that franchise for a championship?”
His longtime PTI co-host Tony Kornhesier was equally as critical, if not more.
Kornheiser on PTI: “I have tried hard to come up with the exact right word to express what I think about Ted Leonsis driving a stake through the middle of downtown D.C., the capital of the United States of America. And the word that I’ve come up with is villainy.”
— Dan Steinberg (@dcsportsbog) December 14, 2023
“Don’t tell me there’s a lot of money involved, there’s profit involved — there’s money involved where he is now,” Kornheiser said, as covered by WaPo. “If his teams were better, maybe they’d make more money.”
Leonsis, a billionaire who isn’t exactly unfamiliar with backlash, faced a public reckoning he hadn’t anticipated. Wilbon and Kornheiser’s critiques resonated with frustrated D.C. fans and were amplified nationally.
In essence, Leonsis couldn’t handle being raked over the coals for a decision he thought was justified.
Reflecting on the reaction, Leonsis admitted to The Washington Post, “It hurt me a lot personally. When I would meet fans, when I’d meet people in Virginia, that wasn’t the feedback I was getting. In focus groups, that wasn’t the feedback I was getting.
“But there was from influential [people], from media, from VIPs, there was a deep — like I fractured relationships with people, and it took me aback. For such a good people person, I really misjudged a lot of that.”
Leonsis wasn’t shy about his frustration with Wilbon and Kornheiser, either.
“I’m pissed at Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser. I think they’re cheaters,” Leonsis said. “Wilbon was criticizing me for moving 3½ miles — from Phoenix, where he moved 20 years ago.”
As WaPo noted, Wilbon splits his time between his Arizona homes and the Washington, D.C. area.
Leonsis’s resentment towards Wilbon and Kornheiser might be rooted in personal animosity, but it also exposes his increasing alienation from the D.C. fanbase he claims to champion.
For all his focus on data-driven strategies, he has failed to grasp a simple fact: fan loyalty is not about location but trust. And when that trust is broken, distance becomes irrelevant.