Qatar Plans To Buy Minority Stake In Washington Wizards Parent Company
The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) is planning on buying a minority stake from the group that owns the NBA team Washington Wizards. The group is called Monumental Sports & Entertainment and it is the parent company of the Washington Wizards. It also owns the Washington Mystics and the Washington Capitals. If the deal irons out, the QIA will be the first ever foreign sovereign fund to own a stake from a major U.S. team sports franchise.
The proposed deal would see the QIA acquiring a 5 percent stake of Monumental Sports & Entertainment. Based on an NBA spokesperson, Mike Bass, this type of deal is made possible because of how the NBA made an adjustment to its rules back in November 2022 to “permit passive, non-controlling, minority investments in NBA teams by institutional investors, including university endowments, foreign and domestic pension funds, and sovereign wealth funds, subject to a set of policy guidelines adopted at that time.”
These types of investments do have their limits as no fund is allowed to own more than 20 percent of a team and each investment will go through an extensive review conducted by the sports league as well as NBA Board approval.
When it comes to Qatar, this is not its first foray into the sports investment world as back in 2011, it purchased a controlling stake of French club Paris Saint-Germain and eventually became its sole owner. The country also owns a 22 per cent stake in Portuguese club Braga. Along with that, it is attempting to buy the English Premier League club Manchester United. With all these sports investments as well as being the host of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Qatar is proving to be a major force in the international sporting world.
