Monumental Sports & Entertainment has hired veteran finance executive Steve Miller as its new executive vice president and chief financial officer.
Miller arrives from eyewear retailer Warby Parker, where he spent the past 14 years and served as CFO. He shepherded multiple funding rounds for the retailer before it went public with its direct listing on the NYSE in late September 2021.
The move comes as MSE embarks on a multiyear renovation of Capital One Arena in downtown Washington, D.C. Miller will officially begin in his new position on Oct. 2 and directly report to Ted Leonsis, MSE’s founder and chairman who oversees the NHL’s Washington Capitals, NBA’s Wizards, WNBA’s Mystics and NBA G League’s Capital City Go-Go.
“One of the most important things that a CFO does is just provides visibility into cash and the allocation of capital,” Miller said in a video interview. “And so what I do in my role is making sure that I’m aligning the allocation of capital with mission and with business growth, to make sure that there is certainly a financial return [which is] really an output, not an input.’
“If you’re doing all of the other things the right way, prioritizing the fans and building an amazing experience supported by best-in-class technology, and sports teams that are appealing to the community, that’s the most important thing, the money will follow.”
MSE has spent the summer overseeing the first stage of a complete renovation of Capital One Arena after the Capitals lost in the second round of the NHL playoffs. The venue’s $800 million renovation is being subsidized in part by $515 million in taxpayer funds allocated by D.C. City Council.
Public financing towards sports venues is deeply controversial, and even more so in Washington D.C. where the city is also committing at least $1.1 billion towards the construction of a new Commanders stadium on the RFK Stadium campus.
In explaining how he thinks MSE’s partnership with the city can pay off, Miller relayed advice he got early in his career from an agency commissioner in New York City’s local government.
“He said, ‘If you really want to understand the value of the society in which you live, pick up a copy of the budget and read it,’” Miller recalled. “And if you see that we’re spending more on arts and education, it means we value those things. If we’re spending less, it means that we don’t.’ At a young age, through the lens of public service, it gave me a real appreciation of the magnitude of dollars that cities and states control, that you can use to build a public good that ultimately benefits everyone.”
Monumental is positioned differently from many of its peers in the NBA, WNBA and NHL because it owns both an arena and the regional sports network that locally broadcasts most games. In the tumult of the RSN market, MSE recently launched a joint product offering with streaming company ViewLift that aims to advise pro teams on how to manage their local media rights should they become available.
The RSN market is one of several areas that Miller is going to spend several months exploring in his initial few months on the job. He said that he has the necessary toolset and knowhow to bring MSE public should Leonsis and the rest of the leadership wish to pursue that route. Yet for the time being, the crux of his time will be spent applying his financial and operational experience to a new industry, something he has done once before.
“When I got started at Warby Parker, I never worked in the optical industry, and the founders have always said that there’s a lot of value in bringing talent in with a set of fresh eyes who have experience in other industries, who are fast learners, who believe in using data and analytics, and who are committed to the mission,” Miller said. “There’s an element to this where I’m going to spend the next while drinking from a fire hose and learning a new industry and building relationships.”
