Commanders minority owner and Mark Ein has a long history in DC sports, as the owner of the Washington Kastles of TeamTennis and a facilitator of the Washington Open ATP Tour stop – and now, he’s involved in the other sports entity he grew up loving, a feeling he described as “indescribable” to the Sports Junkies on Friday.
“No sleep at all, but lots of excitement,” Ein said of his first week as a minority owner. “As a kid who grew up in this area, my passion is being involved in the two things I was most involved in as a kid; I was a ball boy growing up, and then the other thing I cared most about was the Redskins, so the chance to get involved there and bring it back to its former glory is indescribable, but it’s incredibly exciting.”
The guys had a lot of tennis talk, including Ein and EB swapping horror stories of their days as ball boys, and with this year’s open coming up starting Monday, everyone was excited that the men’s draw will include three Top 10 players, and the women’s event is back to make the first combined ATP/WTA 500 tour stop.
“One of the things we did in our tennis offseason was secure the rights to a higher-level WTA event that had been in San Jose, so we created the first combined 500-level event in the world, and one of only 10 at this level that has both men and women,” Ein said. “The fields are sick, with six Top 10 players and three former No. 1s, and five Grand Slam champions. Next week looks beautiful, too, and our fans love this event, so it will be great to see them come out.”
Back to the Commanders and youth, though – Ein and Josh Harris have known each since childhood, much like the Junkies have, and never did they think that a half-century later, they’d still be tied together as owners of the football team they grew up loving.
“We did everything together; we grew up around the corner in Chevy Chase, and Josh and I were very good friends. We rode bikes to Brookville Pharmacy to get trading cards – it was our life, like every other kid around here,” Ein said. “We talk about it, because we grew up together, went to the same college, worked on Wall Street in buildings right next to each other – it’s the one guy who our whole lives have tracked, and that makes it that much more special.”
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And the Commanders were the next step.
“The day the team went up for sale, we talked, and said let’s go for it,” Ein said. “There were a lot of points along the way where we didn’t think it was going to happen, but it’s amazing that it did.”
So, as the future moves along, EB wanted to try to gauge Ein’s thoughts on a new team name with “Red” in there, and Ein deflected with a joke about tennis – but he wouldn’t deflect how great it was to see all the fans out at Commanders Park for training camp on Thursday.
“It’s the best! This isn’t cliché, especially for me: my passion for all this stuff is what sports can do to bring people together. That’s what matters to me, more than honestly anything that happens on the field,” Ein said. “Seeing something that everyone in our community comes together on is awesome. As a kid, some of my best memories are going with my family and friends to sporting events, and being able to do that in a high quality way and knowing you’re creating those memories for others, it’s a passion.”
Someone showed Ein a picture of previous camps where a couple dozen people were there, so to see thousands on Thursday, and to know tens of thousands more will be coming, really jazzes him up – but also puts pressure on him and his fellow owners to keep that mojo flowing.
“Just already to see the excitement in the community for this team, starting now, it’s awesome and amazing, and makes us all feel really good,” Ein said. “But, it also puts pressure on us to do a really good job and deliver; these days are about hope and promise, but we know we have to deliver.”
EB understands, saying he’d be ‘scared to death’ if he were in the same situation, especially with the day jobs everyone still also has – but don’t think these guys will be absentee owners, or only in it for the profit.
“The thing I’ll say is I looked at the Sixers with Josh and ended up not doing it, which is one of the worst financial mistakes I’ve made, but I didn’t want to own a team not in my town,” Ein said. “But he’s done it there, and if you look at the tennis tournament, the fan experience was horrible before we took over and now it’s a sell-out. There’s pressure, but we know how to do this. A lot goes into winning and competing, but the same principles apply. You may need a little more patience because things need to come together, but we can make this a great experience however fans engage with the team as a start, and over time, make sure we win. We’re going to get this done.”
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