Nice to see my OP had legs. As a NoVa resident, this plus the Commanders moving to Woodbridge will be a huge boon to the area.
Leonsis looking to move Capitals and Wizard to Virginia (upd: VA deal seemingly dead, new DC deal in the works)
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MMC
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CheckingLineCenter
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no?
Gary Bettman just was talking on ESPN that the Caps are having an event tomorrow to create a new experience for fans. Guessing that means the Caps are moving.
Voight
#winning
I am very sad and angry. I grew up in the MD suburbs of DC. Leonsis is making a huge mistake-the ability of people to get to events will be significantly impacted as people will not be able to take transit. VA may be offering more money , but a renovation of capital one arena in DC would i believe be a lot more profitable in the long run.
If Leonsis was going to do this, he should of at least given DC one more chance publicly to match the VA offer. He should also of had enough respect for fans to give them a heads up in advance. Say to the public and DC that you will for example sign an agreement with VA in say 2 months but give DC a chance to pass its own legislation.
I would also think that music acts and the like would much rather play in DC, as they could likely charge higher ticket prices. I want to remain a caps fan, but this among other things is making it really hard for me.
If Leonsis was going to do this, he should of at least given DC one more chance publicly to match the VA offer. He should also of had enough respect for fans to give them a heads up in advance. Say to the public and DC that you will for example sign an agreement with VA in say 2 months but give DC a chance to pass its own legislation.
I would also think that music acts and the like would much rather play in DC, as they could likely charge higher ticket prices. I want to remain a caps fan, but this among other things is making it really hard for me.
CheckingLineCenter
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That was under Snyder. Harris doesn’t want to go that far south and the site either will be at a redeveloped-RFK or in Fairfax County.
Fairfax won't happen...taxes are too high. It'll either be PW County or DC
CheckingLineCenter
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Zero chance it’s in Prince William Co.
Taxes don’t matter when as part of negotiations and enticing Harris to come to VA: a) jurisdiction will create a special tax district and tax a stadium parcel separately and b) they’ll fund some of a development with public money.
My money is on RFK. I think Harris is using NoVa options as leverage with city. But same was said about Leonsis.
I was a little surprised to find that they were ever in DC. Not much room there. Kinda assumed it was a NY Jets/Giants deal.
TheMoreYouKnow
Registered User
At this point it certainly looks to be past pressuring DC to pony up the money, as it appears that the Monumental people spent a ton of time and resources already with the local VA authorities to create the concept and set the wheels in motion. Can D.C. still salvage it by promising Leonsis the world? It's not impossible, but difficult once you've had press conferences with principals present. And quite honestly, why would you take D.C. leadership's word on anything when you know the VA people are far more likely to 'play ball' with businessmen.
I think the site is also clearly chosen to keep the DC and MD crowd invested. In fact, you can probably see D.C. from the parking lot. It's not actually a super practical place to get to for people in Fairfax and Loudoun. In fact, I think it's far easier to get there from Dupont Circle than from Reston or Chantilly. The main 'victim' here is central D.C. economically , but not sure people living in Rockville or Bethesda are very sincere if they complain about that. The main 'winners' aren't the mass of Caps fans in Northern Virginia, but the developers and politicians trying to create the new hub in the Arlington/Alexandria border zone (i.e. Potomac Yard aka National Landing).
I think the site is also clearly chosen to keep the DC and MD crowd invested. In fact, you can probably see D.C. from the parking lot. It's not actually a super practical place to get to for people in Fairfax and Loudoun. In fact, I think it's far easier to get there from Dupont Circle than from Reston or Chantilly. The main 'victim' here is central D.C. economically , but not sure people living in Rockville or Bethesda are very sincere if they complain about that. The main 'winners' aren't the mass of Caps fans in Northern Virginia, but the developers and politicians trying to create the new hub in the Arlington/Alexandria border zone (i.e. Potomac Yard aka National Landing).
Major4Boarding
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CNBC interview about 2 hours ago with Gov Youngkin
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/12/13/washington-capitals-wizards-to-move-to-virginia-in-2028.html
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/12/13/washington-capitals-wizards-to-move-to-virginia-in-2028.html
Headshot77
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It's probably a Madison Square Garden situation where there isn't a lot of developable land left in the area, and all they can do is basically gut the entire structure and rebuild the inside and call it a renovation.
KevFu
Registered User
I tend to agree with the poster you're replying to, that when you're talking about $600m in upgrades vs $1,000m for an entirely new arena, a whole new place sounds like a better option
Provided you have a good place to put a new arena.
Think of it this way: If your $30,000 car needed $18,000 worth of repairs, would anyone choose repairs over buying a new car? Because "where to put it and what to do with the old one" are simply not factors for that.
The place to put it is the key. Like, in Philadelphia they have a ton of space in the stadium district to just build a new one in the parking lot. So why put $600m into a 30-year old place when you can build a new one for $400m more and get "all new everything."
Obviously, most places don't have the luxury of ample space to put a venue like that.
The headlines for this are misleading. "Moving the teams out of DC" is technically accurate, but it's like six miles.
The Coyotes moving from Glendale to Tempe was 27 miles, and the Coyotes threads are so huge because a large number of hockey fans WANT the Coyotes to move out of Arizona for another market hundreds of miles away.
Is there really enough vacant land in the Potomac Yard area to even build anything the scale of what they'd probably want? I don't feel like there really is, but maybe they plan to take out some of what's already there?
Also I think if you consider the way the release from Bowser and DC was worded ("this is our best and final offer") it sounds to me like they already know their offer is not going to be enough. They're already gone and DC knows that.
hockeykicker
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hockeykicker
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vorky
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hockeykicker
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In 2016, Leonsis said he had "the worst building deal in professional sports," according to the Washington Post, which reported that he said he was paying $14 million per year in interest, $9 million in principal and maintenance costs that the year before cost $13 million. "By comparison, he said, most teams pay rent of $3 million to $4 million to play in municipally owned arenas," the Post reported.
basically heres the real reason why
basically heres the real reason why
Edenjung
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I feel for DC and MD fans who have to go there.
Only one Metro line that isn't a loop? Well fck.
ALso are they changing their name? Viriginia something, something?
Only one Metro line that isn't a loop? Well fck.
ALso are they changing their name? Viriginia something, something?
Bixby Snyder
IBTFAD
It's still the same metro area. Caps played in Maryland for the first 20 years and were called Washington so why change just because they're moving to a new building a few miles away?
hockeykicker
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you are acting like its so far away from dc, its just across the river (blue drawn line is dc)
also lol at feeling for the dc fans that have to come to va, but im sure you werent all upset for the va people who had to go into dc
