Transactions between two professional sports franchises are common. Swapping players or draft picks has happened for years.

However, the trade ownership of professional sports teams is more rare.

According to a press release, in April, the Major League Baseball Team was known as the DC Pickleball Team, and the Brooklyn ACES announced that it would exchange its franchise rights before the new season.

In other words, the DC team is now owned by former Brooklyn owners and vice versa.

The ACE was previously owned by Rich Kleiman of Boardroom Sport Holdings and NBA player Kevin Durant, while the DC team was previously owned by teams including real estate investors Al Tylis and Sam Porter, who were former executives at MLS Franchise DC DC United.

Tylis and Porter's group also include NFL wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr., former NBA stars RIP Hamilton and Shawn Marion and MLB pitcher Justin Verlander.

The most recent owner of the professional franchise exchange was in 1978, when the Boston Celtics and the then-Bafaro Braves completed a deal. American film producer Irv Levin became the owner of the Brave, while entrepreneur John Y.

When Kleiman went through this process, the historical context did not expect it. However, this is an additional element of the league's future useful move.

"It sounds really cool when you say that," Kleiman told ESPN. "And I think that's the idea, and it's very new when you have a team in an emerging league like this.

Tylis grew up on Coney Island, New York, and called Kleiman about two months ago.

"I didn't expect this call, and I didn't necessarily know how likely that was," Cleman said. "But once I heard it, it immediately made a lot of sense to me, and it was something I wanted to pursue."

Durant is still playing for the Nets when Kleiman and Durant bought Brooklyn in October 2022. New Yorker Kleiman loves to connect with the city. However, Durant was born in Washington and established himself in Washington, D.C. through his foundation (35V).

On the other hand, new Brooklyn general manager Josh Gartman and COO Adam Behnke both live in Brooklyn. The group also has links to the DC area: Porter is a member of the Tylis ownership group and is an executive at DC United, while Behnke was once a club executive. He said Thales was also part of the club. This led them to decide to own the franchise.

The ownership group tends toward DC teams and alliances to hold more events in the DC area.

"Whenever we have an event in Washington, D.C., area, we say, jeez, it's great, we're going to get so much fan engagement, and it's very important to have the interest in the community," Tylis told ESPN. "But how much more can we do if it's in our backyard?"

“When you try to build from scratch in a grassroots way, it feels like the vast majority of people in the year are physically irreplaceable, rather than heading to the market and eventually coming back.”

Tylis then thought of Kleiman and Durant, then called up the then Brooklyn owners and offered a unique deal trade proposal to exchange cities.

Kleiman has experience in Washington, DC - he once managed the Washingtonian rapper Wale - but Durant's already big presence in the region is the main reason the industry is attractive to Kleiman.

The first person he called to discuss the deal was Durant. Kleiman has appointed two NBA champions since 2012, while two are business partners at 35V. Clayman said Durant had a bright smile on FaceTime and said, "Yes, let's do this in DC"

"I love the entire DMV area, where the career I work is very comfortable," Kleiman said. "I know the area very well. But of course, Kevin's affinity for his hometown, his mom and dad there, running his organization and the amount of work we do in the community. Once presented to me, it was like a effortless one."

Kleiman then called his other partners and began talking about the deal with investors and sponsors.

He said getting things started to move was "a bit of a process" but everyone was on the boat. Kleiman and Tylis often cook kimchi together, which they think is a contribution to their high sense of trust in each other.

They proposed the league's proposals and had to be approved by the United Kimchi Association's board of directors, a holding company of Major League Baseball and a professional Kimchi Association.

"I think everyone quickly realized that it was a win for Kevin, Ritchie and their crew. It was a win for us, and it was a win for the league," Thales said.

MLP was launched in September 2021. Such a move - with the early stages of the league - can help the league develop.

Tylis compared it to a baseball game only at the top of the second inning, giving it flexibility and creativity. The swap was a move he and Kleiman believed to be beneficial to the future of MLP.

"We are expanding our perspective on that," Thales said. "For the rest of the nine innings, we are able to grow the fan base in New York and especially Brooklyn, and the rest will be more like if we were in DC, I think the same is true for the DC team right now."

For any ownership group, there is also a new franchise that has any specific plans. However, the move opens the door for a larger vision Tylis brings: home.

Currently, MLP is holding events in six different cities instead of following traditional home and away schedules. Thales believes it is only a matter of time.

“I do believe that with our development and interest in the sport and the growth of the sport, we will reach the point where we all have family facilities and courtrooms,” Thales said. “It’s a gradual reason why we can do something in your backyard, where we can one day build our own stadium here that houses Brooklyn pickled teams, while also being able to do other activities in the community or in the community.”

With a real estate background, Tylis is at its best. Kleiman is excited about bringing the sport to new crowds and the communities Durant grew up in and continues to serve through his foundation.