Tag Archives: Washington Mystics

Mystics make a trade

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To get some help and experience in the back court.We welcome to town Noelle Quinn.

We are hopeful she will help drive our offense and add to our scoring from the back court. She plays an up tempo game and is very court aware. We like her game. 

To get value – we had to trade value – and we will miss Marissa Coleman; we thank her for her contributions to our team and to our community over the last several years. 

I expect Sheila Johnson and Trudi Lacey to make more moves this off season to help improve our team. Onward.

Thank you season ticket holders

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Holiday greetings.

Just a quick note of thanks. Between the Capitals, Mystics and the Wizards; we now have about 24,000 FULL season ticket holders for all of our games; more than 14,000 at the Capitals (with a strong waiting list of more than 3000 people); and we are closing in on 8000 full season ticket holders for the Wizards. And last season almost 2000 for the Mystics.

I am hopeful to get to 10,000 season tickets for the Wizards – that would be a huge milestone for us as a franchise.

We are up more than 70 percent in terms of season tickets since we bought the team; I am grateful to you all and am grateful to our folks in sales and customer service.

Happy holidays and thank you so much. Ted

5 years ago this week I retired from AOL

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I was concerned that I would have nothing to do – I was terrified of leaving the company that employed me for almost 14 years.

In that 5 years since I retired from AOL I have:

Acquired the Washington Wizards and Verizon Center; and spent more time with the Washington Capitals and Washington Mystics;

Made 3 films; “Nanking”;” Kicking It”; and ” A Fighting Chance”; I am working on a 4th film now too;

Founded SnagFilms; and acquired indieWIRE;

Helped to start Revolution Money- served as its chairman; sold the company to American Express; now I serve on board of directors of American Express;

Authored a book – “The Business of Happiness”;

Invested in and became Chairman of Clearspring Technologies; still serve on their board;

Invested in and serve on board and as Vice Chairman of Groupon; the company went public last month; it has a $14 billion market cap;

Made 15 angel investments in some great start ups; all told; these startups and the companies that we sold have a combined value approaching a billion dollars;

Became a partner in Revolution Growth Fund 2 – a $ 450 million ” speed up capital” fund ; focused on East Coast startups; partnered with Steve Case and Donn Davis on this NEW fund;

Bought a house – sold 2 houses;

Worked with more than 400 charities via my Family Foundation; and Monumental Sports and Entertainment Foundations and SnagFilms;

Serve on the board of directors of Georgetown University.

It has been a nonstop hectic 5 years – some of the best and most productive and enjoyable years of my career and life.

Retirement from a corporate career is nothing to be afraid of. Onward. Thank you.

I Believe You are the Best Fans

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I don’t care what a small sample poll says and how it is interpreted by members of the media. And people who don’t live here.

Thank you Caps fans. Thank you Wizards fans. Thank you Mystics fans.

I am hopeful we can connect with a generation of fans. And have the fans fall in love and stay in love. Love is a commitment.

I want to build teams that are as great as its fan base, that are worthy of the bandwidth and attention, love and fanatical support.

I am an optimist. I believe in people. I believe in our city. I believe we are in it together.

I never believe totally in polls like this. The sample sizes are quite small. Sports are all about emotion, dedication, belief and commitment. Our community is huge and growing. It is tough to encapsulate it by making a few random phone calls. That is an old school methodology and one that has failed politicians for decades.

And who cares what people who used to work and live here and now live and work elsewhere have to say about us?

There is a covenant. If a team does the right thing the right way, wins and offers hope and promise and belief then fans can trust and then love. And they turn out in support in so many ways. For a long, long time.

Polls and media coverage are nice and needed. The role of media in covering teams is also important. We rely on what we see and hear but we can gauge interest, support and loyalty in many ways- including actual sales, actual ratings, in actual pixel generation, in Tweets, in news feeds; in searches and in merchandising sold. And on and on. We also subscribe to many other long standing research surveys too. There is a big picture out there and it all shapes up to say that this is an educated, hard working, growing and successful community. One that tries to live full and self-actualized lives and one that loves sports as much as any other community.

I think DC and VA and MD are GREAT sports communities. I think you are the best fans. I respect you. I want to earn your love and support. I am unabashed in that belief. I didn’t grow up here but I would never live anywhere else. I have been connected to Washington, DC since 1975. This is my home. A place with great sports fans!

Read this one, a huge article in the Washington Post. Tell me what you think of the poll and the story and whether you think this article says what is on your mind and in your hearts. Thank you.

Mystics and Monique

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It was wonderful news to have a player of Monique Currie’s experience and talent return to the floor in frankly a meaningless game for us last night. She has missed the entire season to date with injury and her return was most welcomed. It gave us another option for the opponents to worry about – and she provided a calm and a presence for us that we have missed all season.

She is a very dedicated and experienced player. We are grateful that she is healthy now. This year has been a tough one. We have essentially lost 4 players of experience from our line up; two to injury and two to trades to amass draft picks as we try to recraft the team. We have taken a step back to take a step forward. It is a difficult process and one that I am most appreciative of the patience that many of our fans are providing us. Thank you.

We have been playing young players a lot of minutes. We have been very short handed and it has shown all season long. Just adding Monique back into the lineup for a game last night helped us to garner a win as it spread the floor more and gave our coaching staff more options to explore mostly at the end of the game.

I am proud of the team and the staff for never quitting and for showing enthusiasm and belief in our system.

Sheila Johnson and I have been meeting to discuss our ongoing plan for player development .

Once the season ends we will meet with the staff to outline our go forward plan – together – and communicate the road ahead. Keep the faith!

Thanks for your support – and onward. It felt good to get a win last night.