Alex Ovechkin is officially a team owner. In time, if all goes as planned, he will be viewed as an important mentor to its players as well.
The Washington Capitals great and future NHL Hall of Famer was introduced on Monday by the Washington Spirit of the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) as the latest to invest in the club. The investment represents not only Ovi’s first stake in a pro sports franchise but continues a recent trend of high-profile athletes and other individuals being attracted to NWSL clubs. Among its investor roster, the Spirit count Chelsea Clinton, Jenna Bush Hager and Olympians Dominique Dawes and Briana Scurry, all who were added this past February. Elsewhere in the NWSL, a year ago, Serena Williams joined a star-studded ownership group (Natalie Portman, Eva Longoria) to create expansion franchise Angel City FC to fill a void for pro women’s soccer in Los Angeles. This past January, William’s on-court rival Naomi Osaka became an on-field rival by becoming an owner of the North Carolina Courage.
Ovechkin and his wife Nastya were among eight other new investors that were announced by the Spirit. According to a statement released by the club, over 40 distinguished individuals have now been welcomed into the investment group. The Washington Post reported that the Ovechkin’s investment is in the top half of the new investors.
Ovechkin appeared in an online zoom press conference on Monday afternoon that lasted 30 minutes and was attended by approximately 30 members of the media – the latter a strong indicator of where the Spirit now stand amid the busy pro sports landscape in the mid-Atlantic region. Managing Partner Steve Baldwin appeared alongside two current team members: goalkeeper Audrey Bledsoe, who has been with the club since 2018 , and midfielder Tori Huster, the club’s longest tenured player who was drafted back in 2013 and has previously appeared with the U.S. Women’s National Team. The event was also streamed on the club’s twitch channel (replay is available at https://www.twitch.tv/washingtonspirit).
Baldwin shared that his recruitment of Ovechkin was initiated earlier this year by Kyle Lehrman, a good friend of Ovi’s agent, David Abrutyn. Lehrman connected him with Ovi. “Through David, we had a lot of interactions and talked about what we were looking to do with the club both on the field and in the community, and they thought it was a good fit,” said Baldwin.
Ovechkin echoed that statement and described how the opportunity will enable him to fulfill several areas that are of personal importance to him. For starters, he described how it was a way to honor his mother who had been a professional basketball player and gold medal winner at the World Basketball Championships. Secondly, he views it as way to help continue to bring the Spirit into the wider landscape of DC pro sports and one that is more inclusive of women’s sports.
“(I’ve) Been around women’s athletes for a long time. My mom was a pro athlete, so I know how hard it is to get attention. Very important for me, and everybody to support. It’s a pretty big community and I’m hoping to help the community grow. When we’re done (with the NHL season), hoping that I can come to practice and show my skills, support the team. I love soccer. Have lots of friends who play; pretty cool thing,” Ovechkin added.
During the Q&A format, both players indicated that the new investors would be involved in the club beyond financial support.
“They’re not only providing financial support, but also their time, energy and expertise,” said Huster. “They can provide advice and be mentors as professional athletes as they deal with something that is maybe a step above where women’s sports is at currently. Help us be better professionals across the board. We’re sponges. Having more diversity of people who have that expertise will be beneficial to us.”
Bledsoe added “Everyone is going to take an active role to make us the best club in the world. Not just taking an investment. Putting together sub-groups to see how they can partner with us as mentors, provide job experiences.”
Providing job opportunities and experiences will dovetail with three key priorities that Baldwin outlined in regard to his goals in building up the investor group. Baldwin stated that the first goal of utilizing the network was to reach corporate partners and address the trend of 90% of sponsorship dollars allocated to men’s pro sports. Secondly, he pointed to growing the club’s audience with the intention of becoming a global brand. “ With Alex, Chelsea, Jenna, Dominique and other new investors, we have dramatically changed the reach that we have to people across the globe,” said Baldwin.
The third priority mentioned was to “create an ecosystem that is open to the players to enrich our lives; we have people across a breadth of industries who will afford players opportunities as we go forward. One of our new investors, Tracey Fitzsimmons – President of Shenandoah University as already worked with us to put in place a program for free grad school that our players now have available to them,” Baldwin added.
He continued, “28 months ago – I spoke then about the need to transform women’s sports. Part of that is bringing people to our investor group. We have brought forth a group that is the best investment group in the league. It starts at the top; we have a good organization, a good roster, as deep as it’s ever been. Our expectation is to be in the hunt every year, as the Caps have.”
Baldwin indicated that other potential owners would be evaluated on a case-by-case basis
In his final comment on the press conference, Ovechkin reiterated the energy that he and his wife will bring to the team. “We are happy and excited to be a part of the sport. Very important for us to support women’s sports, especially here in DC. Challenge is to bring people to the stands. I want to meet up with the players. Once it is safe, to be around the team.”
The Spirit will begin regular season play on May 16th with an away match at the Orlando Pride. The club’s first home game will be on May 26th at Segra Field in Loudon County. The Spirit will split its home games this season between that venue and Audi Field in Washington, DC.
Sports Business Analyst
Scott Lewis is currently the Director of Strategic Initiatives & Business Intelligence for Zoomph, an online social media analytics platform used by over 200 sports/esports teams. He was previously the Vice President, Strategy & Analytics for the Baltimore Orioles. He has also served as the Vice President of Marketing for D.C. United from 2015-2018 as the club closed out historic RFK Stadium and opened Audi Field. Prior to that, he spent 6 seasons in marketing and analytics with the Washington Nationals and 3 years at the National Basketball League Office in New York. For the past decade, Scott has been an Adjunct Professor at George Washington University where he founded a class on sports analytics. Prior to GW, he taught sports digital media at the Georgetown Sports Information Management program.