Downtown Washington has been home to the Washington Wizards and Capitals for over 25 years, witnessing numerous playoff runs from the Wizards and a Stanley Cup from the Capitals. Despite their success in the city, owner Ted Leonsis recently made a nonbinding agreement with Virginia officials to move both teams out of Capital One Arena, citing a bad mortgage and frequent crime as the main factors behind his decision. Leonsis and his company Monumental Sports plan to build a 2.2 billion dollar complex at Potomac Yard in Alexandria. The proposed development would include a new arena and practice facility, along with various entertainment and retail spaces. An updated, spacious and high-tech new arena would benefit both teams –– if it was in Washington. To keep the loyal fans and one-of-a-kind sports culture inseparable from the city, the Washington Wizards and Capitals need to stay in Washington.
Aside from the obvious fact that teams should play in the city they represent, moving to Virginia creates complicated and inconvenient commuting issues for local residents, especially those who take the Metro. Alexandria’s location, right across the Potomac River, is not as simple as it sounds. Alexandria is about 20 minutes from the current arena with regular traffic, but with the massive number of fans the complex will attract, regular traffic times pale in comparison. Getting in and out of the city will be a nightmare, and fans coming from Washington and Maryland will quickly grow frustrated and tired of the commute.
The current arena has an ideal location in the city’s center with easy access to Gallery Place and Metro Center, two of the city’s largest and busiest Metro stations. Gallery Place also has trains running in directions both in and out of the city, and fans do not have to wait long for trains during rush hour. In comparison, the Potomac Yard station is significantly further from central Washington, only has direct access to two out of the six metro lines and is not intended to accommodate large crowds. After big games, fans can expect to wait up to 90 minutes at Potomac Yard just to get on the train to leave the arena, which lacks routes that disperse people from east to west. Traffic inconveniences and lengthy Metro wait times will cause both teams, particularly the Wizards, to lose many lifelong supporters who will not be willing to make the trip to Alexandria.
Additionally, the move severs the teams from Washington’s unique culture and atmosphere which, despite its proximity, Virginia cannot replicate. Blasting go-go music, crowds lining the city streets and Chinatown’s historic architecture are all irreplaceable sights and sounds fans look forward to before every game. Even with the owners’ best efforts to recreate Washington’s atmosphere in the new complex’s design, Alexandria lacks the energy that makes Washington an electric place to be on gameday. Additionally, the team’s presence has brought immeasurable vitality to Chinatown, which was declining before their arrival in 1997. The arena and its teams have been key drivers of economic growth in the area over the last two decades and are pivotal to the neighborhood. Leaving for Virginia would only harm local businesses and reverse this progress.
Regarding crime, Leonsis’ concerns are understandable, but the city is certainly headed in the right direction. According to the Metropolitan Police Department, crime in Washington is down 12% from this time last year, and the city council recently passed legislation aimed at steadily decreasing crime even further. With the city addressing the major problem Leonsis cited, he has no tenable excuse for his decision to move.
Leonsis’ decision to expand his Monumental empire is just a rich man making himself richer at the expense of the city and its fans. It is not worth sacrificing the decades of history and culture that the two teams wove into the fabric of the city. Leonsis and the city need to renegotiate a deal to renovate Capital One Arena and keep the Wizards, Capitals and their loyal fans in the nation’s capital.
