Ted Leonsis (Photo by Grant Lamos IV/Getty Images for AWXII)

Ted Leonsis—D.C. sports team owner and Monumental Sports & Entertainment entrepreneur, noted dancer, and prominent fan of the DCist comment section—isn’t ruling out a move from the Verizon Center, which he owns.

In an interview with The Washington Post, the owner of the Washington Wizards, Mystics, and Capitals (as well as new arena football team Valor and e-sports Team Liquid) chats about his vision once he pays off the arena’s mortgage.

“My inclination right now would be— it’s pretty awesome where we are,” Leonsis told The Post. “And I love what’s happened to [downtown] D.C. But I don’t know what’s going to happen five, six, seven years from now … I will be a free agent. I mean, that hasn’t been lost on me.”

The development of the Verizon Center, which opened in 1997, is widely credited with morphing the 7th Street Corridor into what DCist arts editor Pat Padua calls “a kind of Lilliputian Time Square.”

While Leonsis owns the Verizon Center, he told The Post that the mortgage on the property costs him $36 million annually. He called it “the worst building deal in professional sports,” and said that those payments are the major reason why Monumental is still in the red. Paying off the mortgage in about seven years time will go a long way towards his business’s profitability.

And when it does, the arena might not be called the Verizon Center any more. The current naming rights deal expires in 2018.

“In terms of the Verizon Center, I’m being sincere: There’s been no discussions of would we look to move,” Leonsis told The Post. “Have we talked to Virginia? We have not. Have we talked to Maryland? We have not. I would never do that. My goal would be stay where we are or stay within the city.”

He’s already working with the city on a new practice facility for the Wizards on the St. Elizabeths East campus. It’s estimated to cost $65 million, with taxpayers funding the bulk either directly or indirectly.

The budget grew $10 million over the summer. Of the original $55 million, $23 million was set to be paid for by the District, with $27 million paid by Events D.C., which is funded through taxpayer dollars. The Post says Leonsis’ Monumental Sports is paying $4.46 million in an upfront lease payment.

Government subsidies for sports stadiums has become common practice throughout the U.S. Take our very own Nationals Park (one of the few D.C. teams Leonsis does not own), for which D.C. forked over 670.3 million, including $135 million upfront and $535 million in borrowed money, as well as more than $80 million in federal funds for transportation upgrades.

While one Post columnist in September called it an “urban development triumph,” it followed a bitter political battle over costs and took the city to its debt limit. A Brookings Institute analysis this fall said the stadium resulted in a $107 million federal revenue loss.

Now, it’s not Leonsis’ fault that he’s been the beneficiary of public-private partnerships with the D.C. government (though certainly, a spare $50 million could help the city implement some of his pet policies, like free wi-fi). Though he dodged questions about the soon-to-be vacant RFK Stadium during his interview, Events DC made it clear during a community meeting that a 20,000-seat arena was one of the most palatable options for its future.

The terms of the RFK lease with the National Park Service, which expires in 2038, mandates the land be used for a stadium, “recreational facilities, open spaces, or public outdoor recreation opportunities,” or similar public uses. A football stadium on the 190 acre-site is unlikely, given federal opposition to the local team’s name and Dan Snyder’s unwillingness to change it. Events DC also presented a third option, one with “no anchor.”