Leonsis changes direction

It doesn’t seem good to be Ted Leonsis at the moment. His heralded five-year plan for turning the Washington Capitals into Stanley Cup champions is so much shredded paper. His team, stripped of its offensive stars in cost-cutting trades he approved, is near the end of its worst season in more than 25 years. And a looming labor stoppage threatens the future of the NHL. The Capitals’ owner discussed the future of the team and the league with David Elfin of The Washington Times.

TWT: The five-year plan you announced after buying the Caps in 1999 obviously didn’t come close to fruition. Where do you go from here? Is there a new long-range plan?

TL: I’ll never articulate a plan publicly again because it leaves you open to criticism if the plan doesn’t work. I’ve learned my lesson about watching my words.

TWT: There’s logic to the moves you have made for the future because you were mired in last place with a high payroll. But do you really expect fans to pay to see such a denuded team when they weren’t coming in droves to see Jaromir Jagr, Peter Bondra and Robert Lang? As popular as Olie Kolzig is, few fans come to see goalies. What’s your marketing strategy?

TL: We’re going to sell $18 million worth of tickets this year. Our best year was $21 million. With our reduced payroll next season, we’ll come out ahead even with $12 million in ticket sales. I don’t think we’ll have an empty building.

The focus will be on a young team growing up together, playing rugged hockey and starting to get results. The fans can already see that Alexander Semin will be a great player. I don’t think it’s possible to sell an underachieving last-place team. It’s much easier to sell a young team with great prospects that works really hard.

TWT: We understand you are going to cut ticket prices. How much and for how long?

TL: We’ll make the announcement when we send out our renewals after the season. The number one issue for our fans is ticket prices, but the average NHL ticket price is $52. Ours is $45. And we have 2,000 $10 seats at every game, and they don’t sell out.

The majority of my e-mails from fans understand what we’ve done and are supportive. My goals are to have more affordable ticket prices and a team that’s more competitive. We had the eighth-highest payroll and the 17th-highest ticket prices. This year, the team played worse and worse, and the fans stopped coming. So how much worse can it be next year with a smaller payroll?

We added $20 million in payroll [the past three seasons] but only added $4 million in ticket sales. We went from losing $15 million to losing $30 million. That’s a fundamental problem for a league based on ticket sales.

If we sell even $10 million in tickets next year with a $30 million payroll, we’re better off than selling $20 million with a $50 million payroll. The fans weren’t buying what we were selling. It’s not fun, but what are we afraid of in going in a different direction?

TWT: Is there any fear of losing dates at MCI Center because of the labor situation? Other buildings around the country are starting to book dates that could be used for hockey. Have you talked to [Washington Wizards/MCI Center owner] Abe Pollin about this?

TL: I haven’t addressed that with Abe yet. It’s business as usual until September [15, when the collective bargaining agreement between the NHL and the players association expires]. The NHL schedule will have been made with our home games at MCI Center on it.

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