Don’t freak out but, our beloved Capitals are looking to leave their D.C. location and Capital One Arena (Verizon Center) for Northern Virginia.
Per Woj:
The Capitals and Wizards owner Ted Leonsis and Monumental Sports and Entertainment will be attending an event today at Potomac Yard alongside Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin to officially announce the plans to move both franchises.
Leonsis said starting a new stadium with a sense of tabula rasa was a big part of Potomac Yard’s appeal.
“When I saw 70 acres and the ability to start with a clean slate… to build a digital first experience, it really is a very romantic but also pragmatic vision that we can’t do anywhere else,” Leonsis said. “I got goosebumps again when I came here a week ago and looked at all of the expansion capabilities.”
The potential new home for the Capitals will be placed in the sports district in Alexandria’s Potomac Yard neighborhood which will house a new arena for both franchises. An in addition to that will have a 3k seat music and entertainment venue, with a conference center, hotels, and the headquarters for MSE (Monumental Sports & Entertainment).
This state of the art complex project will be walking distance from the Potomac Yard/Vt Metrorail Station. This new location is around 6 miles from the Capitals current arena.
During negotiations one of the big reasons that slowly nudged MSE to move to the Northern Virginia location is the lack of increased improvements to the areas around the arena which has not met the standards that Leonsis wants surrounding his teams.
Before the Caps move they will need to pay off a $35 million bond on their lease at Capital One because the current lease runs till 2047, but can revert to 2027 if the payment is made in time.
Virginia is currently the largest state in the country without a major league sports franchise. If this project gains more ground they could potentially be adding 2 before 2030.
Also for the Virginia location project it has been said that it wouldn’t cost the Virginia taxpayers anything because it would not come from an existing pool of money. The commonwealth would own any arena and lease it to Monumental for 40 years, and the company’s lease would pay off the project over that time. I mean I’ll believe it when I see it, that’s just a tell us what we want to hear move if you ask me.
The Mayor has made one last attempt to try and keep the teams from leaving D.C. by making a counter offer of $500 million for renovations of the current Capital One Arena.
One of the big things I have seen as a negative and a reason to leave D.C. area is safety. As someone who has been to a bunch of games in D.C. there is a bunch of homeless walking around the arena which is a huge turn off especially if you have children with you.
Also lets be honest the current arena has no appeal on the outside it looks like a warehouse or some accounting firm. Take a look at Vegas’s arena which I have been to in-person tons of space outside for pre game entertainment, watch parties, etc.
I imagine the parking situation in Virginia would be drastically better than the current D.C. parking adventure.
The Morning Skate 
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