The Washington Mystics competed in the WNBA Finals and their season ended last night— on September 13th.

The Washington Capitals are back in training camp and the first pre-season game is scheduled for September 16th.

We have essentially a 3 day offseason. Isn’t that great?

We enter each season with hopes, dreams and a plan: to be highly competitive, qualify for the playoffs, go deep in the playoffs and win championships.

We own and manage a large portfolio of teams and venues that we love, we invest in, and that we are passionate about and committed to. We understand the social responsibility we have in leading these franchises and iconic buildings for the benefit of our fans and our community. We create good jobs, we stimulate our local economy, we generate tax revenues for our municipalities. We share in philanthropy by supporting great local causes.

Let’s do a quick review of everything we’ve had going on this year. Let’s take stock before the new season starts…in three days.

In esports, we are investors and owners respectively in Team Liquid and in our NBA 2K League franchise, Wizards District Gaming. Team Liquid is perhaps the best esports team in North America, having won The International 7 (TI7) in Seattle last year, earning the largest first place prize in esports history. They came in fourth at TI8, one of the best showings ever by a Dota II team trying to defend a championship. Team Liquid’s League of Legends team won 2018’s spring and summer splits in the NALCS and will now compete in Korea at ‘Worlds.’ In the NBA 2K League, Wizards District Gaming qualified for the playoffs in its inaugural season. Well done and thank you to all team members for being such leaders in a high growth new field of competition.

In the Arena Football League— in which we at MSE have taken a true leadership role in league administration — two of our teams, the Baltimore Brigade and Washington Valor qualified for the ArenaBowl with the Valor winning in an upset, securing the title and rings for our people and players. Two more Finals, one more ring.

In basketball, the Washington Wizards qualified for the playoffs, but were knocked out in the first round. We have also announced and have launched the G League franchise, as promised, and it begins play this coming November at the new ESA at St Elizabeths—come out to games there and welcome the Capital City Go-Go to our community.

The Washington Mystics won the WNBA Semifinals, made the championship round and were eliminated last evening. It is the first time our team qualified for the Finals and we salute the players, team, coaches for a job well done.

In the NHL, the Washington Capitals qualified for the playoffs, won the Eastern Conference Finals — we hosted massive viewing parties—and as you may have heard, we won the Stanley Cup. A parade and city-wide celebrations ensued. For that one moment in time, in a sea of red, we owned the town. We hang the banner at Capital One Arena on Opening Night, October 3.

So— the Capitals, Wizards, Mystics, Wizards District Gaming, Washington Valor, Baltimore Brigade and Team Liquid all qualified for the playoffs.

And the Capitals, Mystics, Valor, Brigade and Team Liquid each went to the Finals.

And the Capitals, Valor and Team Liquid each won championships in their respective leagues.

And we were able to do all of this while renovating Capital One Arena— we invested more than $40 million in the building this summer to rethink the fan experience from top to bottom. We have installed all new seating, a new sound system, new concession areas, new flooring and we are installing one of the largest in-arena digital signage networks in the country. We have exciting new world-class culinary options. We have new lounges and clubs that will offer exclusive and luxurious viewing experiences. We are excited to fully unveil the new, cutting edge upgrades when the Caps and Wizards regular seasons get underway. Next off season, we will invest again — to keep Capital One Arena world class and comfortable for our fans.

And we have worked diligently with our City, Mayor, and Events DC and plan to help open the new Entertainment and Sports Arena in Ward 8 at St Elizabeths, which will house the Mystics, the Capital City Go-Go and the new MedStar Wizards Performance Center. Our teams will start to move in next week, and the Wizards will soon start to train and practice there.

We made some improvements and renamed the Capitals practice facility in Ballston; thank you, Medstar Health. We renewed our relationship with George Mason University and manage the Eagle Bank Arena, as well. And of course, we thank Capital One for its commitment to us in Washington DC – we’re proud to have a hometown company put its name on the Arena.

Instead of feeling worn out— we feel inspired and energized.

We were incredibly productive and successful as an organization this past season. I thank the more than 4000 full and part time staff who work at Monumental Sports and Entertainment for their passion, zeal, hard work and talents and success! And I want to thank all of our season ticket members, suiteholders, and community and corporate partners for everything you have done to contribute to Monumental’s success this past year. It has been quite a run of excellence.

We work hard to embrace our organization— we took many people to Las Vegas for a Stanley Cup Finals game; we are giving as many employees as we possibly can rings for the Stanley Cup win — the number is now over 1100 rings to be awarded to our family of associates, both full and part-time.

We love our community— we love our employees, and we are grateful to them for everything they have done to support our teams, who qualified for the playoffs in every league in which we compete.

Now— we take one day off…and then do it again in the new season….and improve even more!