Old Glory Announces New Minority Owners

By Alistair Kirsch-Poole
Jun 15, 2023 - 11:56am

Old Glory has announced that the organization has three new minority owners in the team: Washington Nationals minority owner Paxton Baker, investment manager Pablo Calderini, and musician Verdine White of Earth, Wind, and Fire. While all three will have paid some money to purchase their stakes in the team, the real value they bring will be the connections and experience that they can leverage.

Baker is the most straightforward of the new owners to explain, as he's a minority owner in several other DC sports teams: the Washington Nationals in Major League Baseball, the Washington Spirit in the National Women's Soccer League, and the Washington Kastles of World Team Tennis. He also has nearly two decades of event organizing experience as president of event productions at BET, which included festivals, award shows, and concerts.

Hopefully, Baker will be able to use his expertise to improve the quality of Old Glory's match-day experience, perhaps emulating the festival-like nature that has been successful in New England.

In some sense, Baker's connections have already paid off for the team, as he brought in his friend Verdine White of Earth, Wind, and Fire fame. While White doesn't have as clear a connection to the DC scene, he explained, "it’s a pleasure to invest in a community that has supported us with such great enthusiasm over so many years."

Calderini is the least public of the new owners, having been president and chief investment officer of Graham Capital Management. He comes with significant experience in the finance world, with over ten years at GCM and over ten years at Duetsche Bank before that. His joining could be the work of Old Glory GM Marcelo Blanco, who overlapped with him for several years at Duetsche Bank.

We've already seen first hand the sorts of benefits minority owners can bring to the team. When Old Glory was looking for a new head coach last season, the Scottish Rugby Union, aslo a minority owner of the team, brought forward numerous candidates. They also introduced Blanco to the team, a connection that has paid off significantly itself.

While the team hasn't made any reference to this, there has been speculation that these new owners were brought on as part of a plan to build a new stadium. Segra Field has been a consistent sore spot with fans, particularly due to its location. Long term, its expected that the team will build a stadium somewhere within the Beltway, with this announcement potentially being a sign that the long term is closer than we think.

However the stadium situation plays out, the new owners are an exciting addition to the team.