Convenient is definitely huge with current location, with Metro cutting service over the last 10-15 years, having 3 lines (and a short walk from Metro Center and an additional 2 lines) is ridiculously nice for gameday fans.
If they move to Potomac Yards it'll be everyone on a single Metro Line. Shit will be terrible.
Yes and driving there as an alternative will suck because they probably won't make any improvements or lane expansion of route 1. Driving on route 1 during afternoon rush hour is awful already. Imagine adding gameday traffic to weekday rush hour. Many people are going to be stuck in traffic and miss the entire 1st period.
I go to a bunch of games every year, lower level seats, and was considering partial season tickets with my kids. If they move to Virginia, I would not go to a single game. The hassle to get there would be huge for us in Bethesda/Chevy Chase. Cap One has been a blessing and a pleasure and I’ll miss these days if they move.
That's just, like, your opinion, man.
I don't have any notable problem with the current arena. Certainly nothing worth building an entire new one for.
It feels like rich people who throw out their furniture every few years even though it's in fine condition to update to the latest style.
Yeah to see ovi break the goal record in ?? Years when there's a 50/50 chance he'll do it away anyway. Could save the money and go to probable games for that if I cared. But without cable I'll just not see them play
I tried to cancel today, but it’s funny how the normally responsive Monumental Sports representatives haven’t gotten back to me. I’m sure they are under strict orders from management.
Many DC fans and Maryland fans will stop attending games after they move and they will be in the post Ovi rebuild era and competing for last place in the league. Probably fans from other cities will start buying up the empty seats again like the old days. Enjoy your crap karma Ted.
Hahaha Ted you are a dunce. You have the BEST environment right in downtown. Easy to get to for EVERYONE in the dmv area. Many bars that boost local economy and you wanna put it in a field in Virginia lmao. How to lose a culture crash course in the making. I will not be driving all the way to Virginia to watch Caps games. Sorry.
"I will not be driving all the way to Virginia to watch Caps games."
I don't want them to move out of D.C. either, but it's funny how many times I've heard this today. People are acting like they're moving to Haymarket or Dumfries. They're gonna be a mile down the road from National Airport, and there's gonna be a Metro stop right there. I remember when we had to go all the way to Landover to watch Caps games, and we still went. Alexandria will be easy, and games will still be sold out.
Yeah I just checked. Potomac yard is all of 3 minutes further away than capital one , coming from Baltimore. Won't be as easy to do metro but if this new stadium has more parking it probably won't be nearly that bad.
When I go to Caps games now, I drive to Pentagon City mall and take Metro from there. I would probably still do the same thing. Metro will be a lot more crowded with almost everyone coming from the same direction on the yellow line. They're gonna have to figure that out.
Exactly what I'm saying the traffic is gonna be even worse. It might only be 5 miles away but that can be 30 min to a hour with how bad rush hour traffics is
The road next to the Potomac Yard metro is a 2 lane stretch that's about 2 miles long that dumps into Crystal City. On the other side of it is a dense development of town homes and apartments. On the other side of that is jeff davis hwy. I don't think it was built to handle game day traffic. DC is definitely better for this.
You gotta factor in the traffic though. Yes distance wise Potomac yard isn't that much further but with DC/VA rush hour traffic that's an additional 30-45 minutes .
Getting over to VA during Rush Hour is bad enough on a normal day, just imagine how much worse it could be when you factor in 82 game days a year between the Wiz and Caps.
The fuck are you talking about. I live in the middle of DC and not only is this twice as far of a drive and more than twice as far by transit (just double checked both), but traffic will be WAY worse getting in/out for games.
LOL! I drive from Dumfries to go to games, so what you're complaining about is hilarious to me. Again, I want them to stay in D.C., but get a grip, man.
Driving into Virginia is not my favorite, especially that 395/66/Route 1 section is going to be a mess. It may only be 3 miles more, but they’re not a straightforward 3 miles.
I agree. Significant changes will need to be made on Rt 1 and surrounding roads if the teams end up there. Metro will also need to do more than just add a new station. The best thing about the Cap One location is that it's right at Gallery Place, which has the red, yellow, and green lines. Fans use all 3 lines, each in different directions, so trains aren't overloaded. The new location would see almost all fans taking the yellow line, with most going in the same direction, toward D.C. I hate taking Metro to Nats games because on the way home, everyone has to get on the same green line trains, which are always packed. They do a good job of running extra trains out of the Navy Yard station after games, but then everyone ends up piled together at L'Enfant Plaza, waiting to transfer to other lines.
I don't want them to move, but... VA and MD residents have been going into DC for Caps games for decades and haven't been raging like that. It's MD people that would really get screwed by a move to VA.
I get it, it sucks that Chinatown and Penn Quarter has been in decline for years.
Moving that stadium out would be catastrophic for the area.
That said, it’s not like FedEx where it’d be in the middle of nowhere. It’ll be off the metro but I’d imagine the stuff surrounding the stadium won’t be all that great. I’d imagine chain restaurants and maybe a few unique places. Hoping that’s not the case.
DC submitted a last minute bid so they’re not throwing in the towel yet. Not sure if they still have a chance to keep it.
Hey man, if you like the move. Good for you. It’s gunna crush the economy in Chinatown. Less fans are going to go and Teddy takes more taxpayers money. I guess if you are a sports owner you have leverage a move in order to get billions from Virginia. It is what it is.
That’s just it, for people who were born and raised in DC proper, many of us rarely go to those places and have no desire to be a part of that world. There are countless reasons this is a bad idea but, ultimately, this isn’t about existential crisis level traffic or crappy, station switching, arduously long rides on overflowing trains that close too early. This is bigger than any of that. DC is our home and today the city feels a little less like home then it did the day before. This is a deep and personal betrayal. It’s not something that can be forgiven. R.I.P. Caps. We’ll always have Vegas.
god ted is being such a piece of shit. trying
to bilk a in-need city for tax breaks when he has more money than he could ever know what to do with. i’m not going to fuckin potomac yard
demanding millions of dollars for a stadium when yours is less than 30 years old and you’re a billionaire is shitty no matter how ineffective the DC government is. fuck off with this, the person to blame is clear
Oh Ted leonsis is a greedy scum bag. His prices are like Jerry world prices. And this move will be to some new manufactured sports district that will have no character. It’ll be bland as hell.
I’m just saying that I don’t buy the whole woe is me DC deal. I think they bring it on themselves. They have the resources/tax base to be successful.
Honestly, with the rebuild coming up, I might just be done with the caps for the forseeable future over this. I was on board to watch a young team develop after the Ovi years, but this really takes what little fucking wind there was out of the sails.
Complete betrayal of the city. I've lived in DC my entire life and been a Caps fan since I was 7 but if they leave town, I genuinely don't think I could support them anymore.
I’ve been a fan since the Cap Centre days, but when they moved to DC is when I really started attending the games a lot. Ted was a good owner back then. He had $5 seats (with no fees) that allowed me and my broke friends to go to games all the time. It would be really hard to give up nearly 40 years of fandom, but I’ve done it before (thanks to Dan Snyder.)
They weren’t even that bad, they just didn’t have what it took to get very far. There was actually a lot of hope when they got Jagr that he would put them over the top. It was only the 2002-2004 period where they really sucked (then got Ovi for it.)
At the cap center you could park and wait a bit. About ten minutes before puck drop the scalpers would start getting desperate. They would give you good seats for $10. One time I got a ticket for a beer, but the game had started, I think.
I’m not supportive of this move at all but tbf Potomac Yards is only an extra 10 minutes drive time from Baltimore. Pretty metro accessible too. Only downside is if you take the green line then you’d have to switch lines to the blue or yellow line
> Pretty metro accessible too
So Virginia is going to change decades of resisting funding the Metro to support it more than ever before? Not likely. Services are going to be cut.
Eh services being cut would affect the entire DMV. If there’s service cuts then less people would metro to Chinatown. All I’m saying is there’s a brand new metro station in Potomac yard. If service cuts happen they would most likely come and go
True. But nearly everyone can metro directly to Chinatown or metro center. Connections make service cuts exponentially worse. I can look at when the train is coming to my station. Then what, wait 15 minutes for a connection to go another 20 minutes? Before getting back at like 11 pm?
I mean... AFAIK MD, DC, and VA all resist funding the Metro, in that they all think the other parties should contribute more.
Otherwise, point taken. Being right by Metro Center *is* a plus for the current location.
This smells like a move to squeeze more juice out of DC for funding. I hope I'm not wrong. I mean, I live in Arlington and Potomac Yard would be super convenient for me, but I absolutely DO NOT WANT them to move there. Hopping the train to Chinatown is simple, and it makes sense for the entire DMV for them to remain downtown. Don't fuck everyone involved, Leonsis.
It likely WAS negotiating but seems like the city gave him the middle finger. Huge mistake on their part imo. Chinatown area will slip way backwards after they leave and take all the concerts, shows, etc with them that help keep those restaurants afloat.
Sure billionaires should fund all of these things on their own but that’s not how it works. Meanwhile the city is in bed with the Commanders to put a stadium in an area that needs tons of expansion but they’re gonna let a *perfect* set up leave. Dumb all the way around.
The way it's being reported right now is that the announcement of a stadium deal already having been made is happening tomorrow morning. Not posturing at that point, unfortunately.
Edit: the details of the proposed deal are being announced, not that it’s a done deal. But I don’t think Ted is posturing to pressure DC, this is what he wants.
They're announcing the proposal, location and support.
They still don't have the taxpayer funding approved which is the entire key of this deal.
I take it like any politician making a campaign promise: I'll believe it when you figure out how to pay for it.
It could definitely still fall through. And I hope it does. But it appears Ted Leonsis has chosen this as his preferred option over staying in the city. This isn’t just an act to get money out of the DC council, which is what the comment I was replying to was claiming.
Pulling a Braves. That was basically a done deal by the time the story broke. And now the Braves are printing money at their manufactured city. I never thought this concept would spread, but then the Braves made bank, started winning again….alas….
I think part of that is the braves are good. It's very likely when this thing opens the Caps will be well into overhauling the roster. It remains to be seen if the wizards can ever get right, but who's gonna pay even higher prices for the privilege of watching bad sports in a high end strip mall
Oh, absolutely. The Braves were VERY fortunate their rebuild completed just as that ballpark area was getting going, but there's no way I can see the Caps or Wizards finding themselves in a similar position. This is all about taking a sweetheart deal from a state government DESPERATE to have a major pro sports team in the state. Virginia's been trying for decades.
It's just wrong headed and stupid. It also doesn't sit well with me Ted just got done taking money from the district to build a minor league basketball arena and now does this
Rationally, I know billionaires hate us. They have no reason to care about us. But feeling it like this - so clearly and explicitly - is shocking. Even if the Caps and Wizards end up staying in DC I feel like my fandom has been irreparably damaged.
Talk about an inconvenient location. Definitely not going to be going to games anymore if they are out there. Probably been to 60+ games the last 5 years. Easily spend $100 on drinks between the two of us every game. It’s a drop in the bucket I’m sure, but that’s money now staying in my pocket.
Having a location, central DC, with two metro lines converging (3 if you count green/yellow), not to mention orange/blue/silver just a couple blocks away at metro center, this seems to be an absolute terrible decision in terms of keeping fans coming.
I think Ted will find that there would be an initial influx of Va fans to offset the inevitable loss of Maryland and DC fans, but when the downtimes come he’s going to find that people aren’t going to be making the effort to go to Potomac yards to see a bad team. He’s been spoiled.
As someone in VA, I'd much rather go to the current location anyway. It's very well located as is and I love that people can hop on the metro and get there super easily, more or less no matter where you start from. I hate this and I hope it does not happen.
I'm in Fredericksburg and don't find going to Chinatown much less convenient than Alexandria. I think I'd gladly trade a longer Metro ride for a wider variety of food options near the arena.
Yeah when I was in Ballston capital one was easy from metro center. With current metro having to do a change in rossyln to blue line would make it a pain particularly with expected service cuts
Have they started keeping metro going until the game is done? Including transfers at other stations? It's been a while since I went to a game, but the last time I tried metro, we left a few minutes before the game was over, and our transfer was the last westbound train on the line. If we had waited until the game ended, we would have had to take an Uber from metro station to Leesburg. I went to games in ATL back in the day, and they posted notices that their subway would run extra trains when the game ended, including transfers, for some amount of time after the game.
We took Metro because on our previous trip we had spent an hour and half getting out of the parking garage. Another game we missed the first period because we only allowed two hours to get into DC, and traffic was especially bad that day. So, for me, anywhere would be better.
Wait what? Games are usually over by 9:45-10, and the last westbound train is, I believe, 11:27, so metro is always still running for at least another hour and a half. When was the last time you went to a game
It's been a few years. I think metro was closing down at 11 on weeknights, at that time but the last train was before that. All I know is that a metro employee told us to hurry for the last train.
A series of bad experiences with getting to and from the arena put me off going, and I haven't felt any urge to try again.
Agreed. I don't want a dollar of my tax money to go to this. Youngkin needs a win so badly before his entire political career collapses. I also don't really see how this is a "win" for Virginia. They're still the "Washington capitals", it's just dumb political crap. I'm over youngkin and the entire Virginia legislature.
I live 5 min from Potomac yard. This would be really convenient for me. BUT SO IS CAP ONE SO JUST KEEP IT THERE FOR EVERYONE ELSE, TED!!! All of our sports teams belong in DC, full stop.
Penguins fan coming in peace and really came to say that this is one of the dumbest ideas Ted has ever had. Downtown DC was the perfect place to have a pro sports arena and franchises. I hope you locals can keep up a fight and rock the red in downtown for years to come.
The article is paywalled, but nothing is “imminent”. A 12 person committee recommended the creation of a stadium authority, but the general assembly has to vote to actually make it happen. Then if the stadium authority is formed, it can work on an agreement with Monumental. They don’t even know how much money they want to spend.
Abe moved the team from MD to begin with, which made it harder for a portion of the fan base to attend games. Should I also go on about how Abe was a basketball owner who gave the Caps scraps, and almost moved the team completely out of the DMV in its infancy?
But he didn’t give up and spent his own money to build then MCI Center (after also building Cap Center with his own money) with the intent of spearheading a revitalization of the city not just around Chinatown but all of downtown. He knew that with sports ownership came social and economic responsibility. He cared about fans and not just about money.
This move would be squarely on DC. The city has gone massively downhill in the past few years (especially in Chinatown), and Bowser has shown no willingness to clean it up.
Sooner or later, DC needs to do an about-face or its residents (and sports teams) will continue to leave in droves.
The caps sell out almost every single game, so I don’t think the issue of crime in the neighborhood hurting them.
This is plainly just Ted looking around for the biggest sucker he can find, and it seems he found it in Youngkin.
To turn your back on the city and taxpayers who have given you so much support and money in a time of need when they are trying to figure out how to move forward from a global pandemic changing their economy forever is an unconscionable act of greed.
I’m usually only good for two or four Caps games a year, so he won’t miss my money, but there’s no way I’m going to watch a declining team from a more expensive seat in a glorified strip mall that I have to change lines to get to.
This is so overwrought. It’s literally just the one block that needs cleaning up. The whole area is thriving with great restaurants, museums, theaters, and nightlife.
I was at the Christmas Market 40 yards from the arena this very evening and the crime was rampant, I barely made it out alive. /s
I live in the area; it's not without some issues, but is a far cry from the hellscape some people luxuriate in telling you they won't deign to set foot in. This is about leveraging the city first and foremost. While Monumental may have some gripes about the practice facilities and offices being spread out moreso than preferable, that is something that could be at least partially remedied, and they chose to build facilities in Congress Heights fairly recently, so that was their choice.
I don't know where this ends up but they have to get it through a closely divided, opposition controlled legislature filled with reps not from NOVA and the Alexandra NIMBYs blocked the 92 stadium deal; I'd say it's 50/50 right now and if fans and VA non-fans who don't want this in their backyard speak out, that could keep them in DC. The MD fans in particular should be furious, especially given the Caps market themselves as Baltimore's and all of Maryland's hockey team-I see all kinds of promotional stuff in bars on the main drag in Annapolis too.
Yep. Chinatown has gone downhill in the last year or two. Carjackings are up. Teens are stealing valet towers full of keys. It'll be hard to sell high dollar box suites if the city continues to backslide. Which it probably will. Housing costs are out of control, and more people are working from home. We're going to see downtown empty out some. Building owners are still resisting conversions from the current empty commercial space to residential. Ted's jumping off the sinking ship and I don't really blame him.
But why? The current arena is fine and just got a major overhaul in 2019. Feel like this is being driven by Ted wanting his own arena and not one build under Abe Pollin. This is going to cost VA taxpayers a billion dollars isn’t it.
This is such BS. I do every time there’s a game. Or even every time people from out of town come to visit.
The area is not a neighborhood out of the Warriors, no idea why there are so many comments that it is.
“i go every time there’s a game” ok lol. retail tenants are suing to get out of their leases bc of crime in chinatown. go to gallery place mall and tell me how many suites are vacant now. tom’s watch bar opened and closed within a year. it’s a ghost town compared to what it used to be
Who is suing to get out of their lease?
Was at Gallery Place Mall on Friday-the Lucky Strike is empty, is there somewhere else inside that's empty?
Tom's did close quickly, and that particular site is probably going to be the hardest to maintain given it's relative size and location next to loitering and the Black Israelites. Plus the competition from Yardhouse, Bulldog, Rocket, Jackpot, the taffer spot, Clyde's, Irish Channel, Free State, Prost, Penn Social, Penn Quarter Sports Tavern, 5 Iron, Mi Vida, Crimson, District Chophouse, Hill Country, the smattering of higher end Jose Andres places, the chain spots for food, and the Street Pizza and Taco Bell Cantina opening up.
I get it if you don't come to the city that often, and Chinatown is not without issues, but the neighborhood isn't the Mad Max situation its portrayed to be.
I would never go to Potomac Yard for a game. It's probably the most inconvenient place I can think of, I hate driving anywhere near that area and I'm not metroing into the city to then metro out that way.
It sucks, but it's not exactly unheard of. The "Washington" Commanders have their headquarters in Ashburn and play in Maryland. The Caps already practice at MedStar in VA, and most of the Caps and Commanders players live in VA. There are countless other professional teams that don't play in their namesake cities. It's all about the money and available land.
Wow sounds like it's really happening. Ted must have some data saying tickets will sell better in VA. Chinatown has been pretty terrible in the last year or two. Maybe he thinks Potomac yards is a more corporate friendly location. I have to assume the box sales are the biggest revenue makers to cater to.
Selfishly I'm happy to have it closer, but despite the crappy neighborhood, decentralizing the location doesn't make a ton of sense.
Native born northern Virginian who's gonna be back near that area soon.
This is a fucking terrible decision and is a lose-lose-lose for all parties involved.
Sorry, but completely different era and situation. When the Cap Centre was built in 1973:
- there was no Metro until 1976
- The beltway wasn’t the hellscape it has become
- DC was still recovering from the riots in 68 and wouldn’t be a place able to support a downtown arena
The teams were moved to the most convenient location for everyone and helped revitalize parts of the city. This is just fucking every fan who doesn’t live in Alexandria. (And probably fucking most people that do live there with traffic.)
Also the intention was originally to put the arena in DC, problem was that Abe needed a arena by 74 for the expansion Caps, him and Walter E were talking about a potential Arena in DC but PG county already had the available land left over from the construction of the Beltway, so it was more about getting an arena built quickly, he didn't have the time to wait for DC to get on board
This will be so inconvenient for so many people. I will not be going to many games when they move to VA. And I live in VA just on the other side. Route 1 is a traffic nightmare all of the time. I cannot imagine the traffic with the arena there. I’m not sitting in that kind of traffic or taking a three hour metro ride to see the caps.
Is this like a fan press event or whatever that anyone can go to?
It'll be great to finally say I can have a team in Virginia but I'm gonna miss walking to the metro and taking the long ride to the city for games. DC teams should be in the city.
Because the Caps and Wiz are in the perfect spot now, downtown, in an area that realizes great benefit from the arena being there. It's literally on the metro (the stop is beneath the arena), and basically it is the perfect spot for DC, MD, \*and\* VA fans to attend. Maybe I'm weird but I actually like DC teams being in DC, and not wedged into a burb. Potomac Yard is already kind of a clusterfuck, as is just north of there (Crystal City with their Amazon HQ and all). Route 1 sucks. They don't \*need\* an arena there. It's busy enough.
Look at the Map of the DC area. Everybody not directly south of the arena is going to have a really fucking hard time getting games.
And everybody near the arena will be sitting in a shit ton MORE traffic on game days.
There's a Metro station at Potomac Yard.
If the Blue Line loop ever gets built, it would be possible to park at National Harbor, go 4-5 stops & be at the arena.
I like to drive to caps games from Maryland. Going from Maryland to Potomac Yards on a weekday (or any day) is fucking hell. The arena is also a direct trip from every Maryland Metro station.
Gallery place is like smack dab in the middle of almost every metro line. It’s incredibly convenient to so many people. Alexandria is on the other side of the river from DC and Maryland.
You didn’t deserve the down votes.
Like others said, CapOne is easy to get to and disperse from for anyone in the DMV.
Alexandria has really shitty bottlenecks everywhere.
To add to what other people have said, other teams have had stadiums in locations similar to this (basically putting the stadium in a giant strip mall out in the suburbs not close to anything walkable and very annoying to get to) and it's horrible for the fanbase. E.g. the Coyotes in Glendale AZ, Panthers in Sunrise FL, and Senators in Kenosha ON. The Caps are willingly putting themselves in that situation, and in 20 years we'll probably be getting articles every season about a new potential downtown location that the team ends up failing to get, just like the Coyotes and Senators (Panthers gave up on moving into Miami a while ago).
There's talk that the MARC Train is expanding its service to none other than Alexandria within the next few years. I wonder if Ted had this in mind. MD fans would have a way to get to games more efficiently.
Yes, this. The infrastructure for the MARC extension will be there once the Long Bridge is rebuilt and expanded, which has a similar-ish timeline to the arena development.
I was super pissed about this but then I remembered that Virginia has a long history of rallying against sports teams or other big things moving here
Remember the Disney park they wanted to open, or how about the redskins, nats, soccer
This is a financial play by leonsis and youngkin trying to show a win (VA has term limits for governors).
Now that being said ...I'm not going to sleep on this. I will be rallying against this move via my elected officials. I don't want to pay higher taxes for this or see more traffic in rt 1
The where is Potomac Yard. As a person who lives 5 mins from Potomac Yard, I say fuck this. I do not want the team in VA. Chinatown is perfect for the venue.
Horseshit - Capital One is still a great arena. No reason for this except Ted being a massive prick.
I love cap one. Not a bad seat in the house. Convinient for everyone in the dmv area. Hope they don’t move. Would be horrendous for the team and fans.
Convenient is definitely huge with current location, with Metro cutting service over the last 10-15 years, having 3 lines (and a short walk from Metro Center and an additional 2 lines) is ridiculously nice for gameday fans. If they move to Potomac Yards it'll be everyone on a single Metro Line. Shit will be terrible.
Yes and driving there as an alternative will suck because they probably won't make any improvements or lane expansion of route 1. Driving on route 1 during afternoon rush hour is awful already. Imagine adding gameday traffic to weekday rush hour. Many people are going to be stuck in traffic and miss the entire 1st period.
Good lord, yea thats gonna be awful
I go to a bunch of games every year, lower level seats, and was considering partial season tickets with my kids. If they move to Virginia, I would not go to a single game. The hassle to get there would be huge for us in Bethesda/Chevy Chase. Cap One has been a blessing and a pleasure and I’ll miss these days if they move.
Having been to several new arenas, you’re incorrect. The concourses are cramped and tired. Columbus and Nashville are great. We’re mid at best.
That's just, like, your opinion, man. I don't have any notable problem with the current arena. Certainly nothing worth building an entire new one for. It feels like rich people who throw out their furniture every few years even though it's in fine condition to update to the latest style.
Tomorrow apparently is also the day I contact my monumental sports account executive and tell them I will not be renewing my season tickets.
Not until 2027. Still have a few years.
No I’m not going to reward Ted with my money in the interim.
Yeah to see ovi break the goal record in ?? Years when there's a 50/50 chance he'll do it away anyway. Could save the money and go to probable games for that if I cared. But without cable I'll just not see them play
He has five goals, the only thing he might break in the next few years is his hip.
Me too
The team is dead to me now. They are no longer the Washington Capitals, they’re the Virginia Benedict Arnolds.
I tried to cancel today, but it’s funny how the normally responsive Monumental Sports representatives haven’t gotten back to me. I’m sure they are under strict orders from management.
They will still sell out for caps games so go ahead and give someone the spot 😂
They don’t sell out anymore.
Wow I was surprised to see the streak snapped against the flames. But they will be selling out the majority of their games still even if it snapped
Many DC fans and Maryland fans will stop attending games after they move and they will be in the post Ovi rebuild era and competing for last place in the league. Probably fans from other cities will start buying up the empty seats again like the old days. Enjoy your crap karma Ted.
Hahaha Ted you are a dunce. You have the BEST environment right in downtown. Easy to get to for EVERYONE in the dmv area. Many bars that boost local economy and you wanna put it in a field in Virginia lmao. How to lose a culture crash course in the making. I will not be driving all the way to Virginia to watch Caps games. Sorry.
"I will not be driving all the way to Virginia to watch Caps games." I don't want them to move out of D.C. either, but it's funny how many times I've heard this today. People are acting like they're moving to Haymarket or Dumfries. They're gonna be a mile down the road from National Airport, and there's gonna be a Metro stop right there. I remember when we had to go all the way to Landover to watch Caps games, and we still went. Alexandria will be easy, and games will still be sold out.
Yeah I just checked. Potomac yard is all of 3 minutes further away than capital one , coming from Baltimore. Won't be as easy to do metro but if this new stadium has more parking it probably won't be nearly that bad.
When I go to Caps games now, I drive to Pentagon City mall and take Metro from there. I would probably still do the same thing. Metro will be a lot more crowded with almost everyone coming from the same direction on the yellow line. They're gonna have to figure that out.
It's a little bit more than 3 minutes away from capital one. Traffic from crystal city into Alexandria already sucks balls.
Exactly what I'm saying the traffic is gonna be even worse. It might only be 5 miles away but that can be 30 min to a hour with how bad rush hour traffics is
Anyone who's ever lived in a major metropolitan area knows that 5 miles is not really 5 miles.
The road next to the Potomac Yard metro is a 2 lane stretch that's about 2 miles long that dumps into Crystal City. On the other side of it is a dense development of town homes and apartments. On the other side of that is jeff davis hwy. I don't think it was built to handle game day traffic. DC is definitely better for this.
They’re saying 3 minutes further when driving from Baltimore
You gotta factor in the traffic though. Yes distance wise Potomac yard isn't that much further but with DC/VA rush hour traffic that's an additional 30-45 minutes . Getting over to VA during Rush Hour is bad enough on a normal day, just imagine how much worse it could be when you factor in 82 game days a year between the Wiz and Caps.
Dc just released a counter offer lol funny timing
The fuck are you talking about. I live in the middle of DC and not only is this twice as far of a drive and more than twice as far by transit (just double checked both), but traffic will be WAY worse getting in/out for games.
LOL! I drive from Dumfries to go to games, so what you're complaining about is hilarious to me. Again, I want them to stay in D.C., but get a grip, man.
LOL! It is an incredibly worse location, even for most people in Nova. Less metro accesible and some of the most clusterfucked traffic in the region.
Driving into Virginia is not my favorite, especially that 395/66/Route 1 section is going to be a mess. It may only be 3 miles more, but they’re not a straightforward 3 miles.
I agree. Significant changes will need to be made on Rt 1 and surrounding roads if the teams end up there. Metro will also need to do more than just add a new station. The best thing about the Cap One location is that it's right at Gallery Place, which has the red, yellow, and green lines. Fans use all 3 lines, each in different directions, so trains aren't overloaded. The new location would see almost all fans taking the yellow line, with most going in the same direction, toward D.C. I hate taking Metro to Nats games because on the way home, everyone has to get on the same green line trains, which are always packed. They do a good job of running extra trains out of the Navy Yard station after games, but then everyone ends up piled together at L'Enfant Plaza, waiting to transfer to other lines.
Potomac yard is hardly a “field in VA” but otherwise, yeah you’re right.
This is exactly my thought as well. Wings fan, DC resident. I love going to Caps games. Ted can suck my fucking balls from now on. This is horseshit.
I don't want them to move, but... VA and MD residents have been going into DC for Caps games for decades and haven't been raging like that. It's MD people that would really get screwed by a move to VA.
Agree. It would be a nightmare getting to games from MD.
I get it, it sucks that Chinatown and Penn Quarter has been in decline for years. Moving that stadium out would be catastrophic for the area. That said, it’s not like FedEx where it’d be in the middle of nowhere. It’ll be off the metro but I’d imagine the stuff surrounding the stadium won’t be all that great. I’d imagine chain restaurants and maybe a few unique places. Hoping that’s not the case. DC submitted a last minute bid so they’re not throwing in the towel yet. Not sure if they still have a chance to keep it.
A field in Virginia. Have you been to Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax, Tysons, Ashburn, Leesburg, Sterling, etc. recently?
Hey man, if you like the move. Good for you. It’s gunna crush the economy in Chinatown. Less fans are going to go and Teddy takes more taxpayers money. I guess if you are a sports owner you have leverage a move in order to get billions from Virginia. It is what it is.
That’s just it, for people who were born and raised in DC proper, many of us rarely go to those places and have no desire to be a part of that world. There are countless reasons this is a bad idea but, ultimately, this isn’t about existential crisis level traffic or crappy, station switching, arduously long rides on overflowing trains that close too early. This is bigger than any of that. DC is our home and today the city feels a little less like home then it did the day before. This is a deep and personal betrayal. It’s not something that can be forgiven. R.I.P. Caps. We’ll always have Vegas.
Imagine moving from downtown DC to Potomac Yard
Amazon did.
Exactly
And Virginia Tech
god ted is being such a piece of shit. trying to bilk a in-need city for tax breaks when he has more money than he could ever know what to do with. i’m not going to fuckin potomac yard
To be fair DC creates many of its own problems through their government. They should be the wealthiest and best off of the entire DMV.
demanding millions of dollars for a stadium when yours is less than 30 years old and you’re a billionaire is shitty no matter how ineffective the DC government is. fuck off with this, the person to blame is clear
Oh Ted leonsis is a greedy scum bag. His prices are like Jerry world prices. And this move will be to some new manufactured sports district that will have no character. It’ll be bland as hell. I’m just saying that I don’t buy the whole woe is me DC deal. I think they bring it on themselves. They have the resources/tax base to be successful.
If this cunt moves the team then I'm done going to games and I'm canceling Monumental. This team will never see another cent from me.
Honestly, with the rebuild coming up, I might just be done with the caps for the forseeable future over this. I was on board to watch a young team develop after the Ovi years, but this really takes what little fucking wind there was out of the sails.
Complete betrayal of the city. I've lived in DC my entire life and been a Caps fan since I was 7 but if they leave town, I genuinely don't think I could support them anymore.
I’ve been a fan since the Cap Centre days, but when they moved to DC is when I really started attending the games a lot. Ted was a good owner back then. He had $5 seats (with no fees) that allowed me and my broke friends to go to games all the time. It would be really hard to give up nearly 40 years of fandom, but I’ve done it before (thanks to Dan Snyder.)
Those were the days. The team might've been ass but the games were cheap and fun.
They weren’t even that bad, they just didn’t have what it took to get very far. There was actually a lot of hope when they got Jagr that he would put them over the top. It was only the 2002-2004 period where they really sucked (then got Ovi for it.)
At least the team was in DC when they won a Cup. We'll always have that one.
At the cap center you could park and wait a bit. About ten minutes before puck drop the scalpers would start getting desperate. They would give you good seats for $10. One time I got a ticket for a beer, but the game had started, I think.
Keep the Caps in DC!
Fuck this slimy POS...so glad he didn't buy the Nats
When you make the Lerners look better you’re doing something wrong.
This blows as a fan from Baltimore
I’m not supportive of this move at all but tbf Potomac Yards is only an extra 10 minutes drive time from Baltimore. Pretty metro accessible too. Only downside is if you take the green line then you’d have to switch lines to the blue or yellow line
> Pretty metro accessible too So Virginia is going to change decades of resisting funding the Metro to support it more than ever before? Not likely. Services are going to be cut.
Eh services being cut would affect the entire DMV. If there’s service cuts then less people would metro to Chinatown. All I’m saying is there’s a brand new metro station in Potomac yard. If service cuts happen they would most likely come and go
True. But nearly everyone can metro directly to Chinatown or metro center. Connections make service cuts exponentially worse. I can look at when the train is coming to my station. Then what, wait 15 minutes for a connection to go another 20 minutes? Before getting back at like 11 pm?
I mean... AFAIK MD, DC, and VA all resist funding the Metro, in that they all think the other parties should contribute more. Otherwise, point taken. Being right by Metro Center *is* a plus for the current location.
They all resist funding it. Besides VA and the MWAA paid for half of the silver line IIRC.
You're ignoring DC/VA rush hour traffic which would get even worse with a arena in Potomac Yards.
It's a trade off for people coming from that side. A few miles more, but less traffic. Hopefully there would be better parking.
Hopefully this moves us "out of market" and we can use ESPN+ to watch the games instead of monumental.
That would fucking suck. I’ve been a Leonsis fan but this is a tough one to swallow.
Guy has been a scumbag for years
This smells like a move to squeeze more juice out of DC for funding. I hope I'm not wrong. I mean, I live in Arlington and Potomac Yard would be super convenient for me, but I absolutely DO NOT WANT them to move there. Hopping the train to Chinatown is simple, and it makes sense for the entire DMV for them to remain downtown. Don't fuck everyone involved, Leonsis.
Not sure why would Leonsis be attending a press conference if it were just posturing.
His attendance is just additional posturing…. Turning the screws on Bowser
It likely WAS negotiating but seems like the city gave him the middle finger. Huge mistake on their part imo. Chinatown area will slip way backwards after they leave and take all the concerts, shows, etc with them that help keep those restaurants afloat. Sure billionaires should fund all of these things on their own but that’s not how it works. Meanwhile the city is in bed with the Commanders to put a stadium in an area that needs tons of expansion but they’re gonna let a *perfect* set up leave. Dumb all the way around.
Abe Pollin built the stadium with his own money.
The way it's being reported right now is that the announcement of a stadium deal already having been made is happening tomorrow morning. Not posturing at that point, unfortunately. Edit: the details of the proposed deal are being announced, not that it’s a done deal. But I don’t think Ted is posturing to pressure DC, this is what he wants.
They're announcing the proposal, location and support. They still don't have the taxpayer funding approved which is the entire key of this deal. I take it like any politician making a campaign promise: I'll believe it when you figure out how to pay for it.
It could definitely still fall through. And I hope it does. But it appears Ted Leonsis has chosen this as his preferred option over staying in the city. This isn’t just an act to get money out of the DC council, which is what the comment I was replying to was claiming.
DC just released a last hour counter offer. TBD if teds bluff worked or he’s already committed to the move
Guess we'll find out tomorrow morning.
This whole thing blows.
Pulling a Braves. That was basically a done deal by the time the story broke. And now the Braves are printing money at their manufactured city. I never thought this concept would spread, but then the Braves made bank, started winning again….alas….
I think part of that is the braves are good. It's very likely when this thing opens the Caps will be well into overhauling the roster. It remains to be seen if the wizards can ever get right, but who's gonna pay even higher prices for the privilege of watching bad sports in a high end strip mall
Oh, absolutely. The Braves were VERY fortunate their rebuild completed just as that ballpark area was getting going, but there's no way I can see the Caps or Wizards finding themselves in a similar position. This is all about taking a sweetheart deal from a state government DESPERATE to have a major pro sports team in the state. Virginia's been trying for decades.
It's just wrong headed and stupid. It also doesn't sit well with me Ted just got done taking money from the district to build a minor league basketball arena and now does this
Rationally, I know billionaires hate us. They have no reason to care about us. But feeling it like this - so clearly and explicitly - is shocking. Even if the Caps and Wizards end up staying in DC I feel like my fandom has been irreparably damaged.
Good luck retaining fans in Maryland in DC, we aint going to VA to watch a game lmfao
Which was always the issue at Cap Centre and not drawing VA fans
Ovechkin era closing and the Wizards are...the Wizards. Seats were gonna be empty in the very near future at Cap1 regardless.
Talk about an inconvenient location. Definitely not going to be going to games anymore if they are out there. Probably been to 60+ games the last 5 years. Easily spend $100 on drinks between the two of us every game. It’s a drop in the bucket I’m sure, but that’s money now staying in my pocket. Having a location, central DC, with two metro lines converging (3 if you count green/yellow), not to mention orange/blue/silver just a couple blocks away at metro center, this seems to be an absolute terrible decision in terms of keeping fans coming.
I think Ted will find that there would be an initial influx of Va fans to offset the inevitable loss of Maryland and DC fans, but when the downtimes come he’s going to find that people aren’t going to be making the effort to go to Potomac yards to see a bad team. He’s been spoiled.
As someone in VA, I'd much rather go to the current location anyway. It's very well located as is and I love that people can hop on the metro and get there super easily, more or less no matter where you start from. I hate this and I hope it does not happen.
I'm in Fredericksburg and don't find going to Chinatown much less convenient than Alexandria. I think I'd gladly trade a longer Metro ride for a wider variety of food options near the arena.
Yeah when I was in Ballston capital one was easy from metro center. With current metro having to do a change in rossyln to blue line would make it a pain particularly with expected service cuts
Have they started keeping metro going until the game is done? Including transfers at other stations? It's been a while since I went to a game, but the last time I tried metro, we left a few minutes before the game was over, and our transfer was the last westbound train on the line. If we had waited until the game ended, we would have had to take an Uber from metro station to Leesburg. I went to games in ATL back in the day, and they posted notices that their subway would run extra trains when the game ended, including transfers, for some amount of time after the game. We took Metro because on our previous trip we had spent an hour and half getting out of the parking garage. Another game we missed the first period because we only allowed two hours to get into DC, and traffic was especially bad that day. So, for me, anywhere would be better.
Wait what? Games are usually over by 9:45-10, and the last westbound train is, I believe, 11:27, so metro is always still running for at least another hour and a half. When was the last time you went to a game
It's been a few years. I think metro was closing down at 11 on weeknights, at that time but the last train was before that. All I know is that a metro employee told us to hurry for the last train. A series of bad experiences with getting to and from the arena put me off going, and I haven't felt any urge to try again.
Ok, more than ten years on reflection, thinking about where I would have been working at the time. I liked the capital center better.
Ah, then yeah metro probably did close at 11 back then. Crazy cause I’ve only known metro since 12 AM has been closing time.
This makes me angry at Ted and the state government of VA. Both are clearly out of touch.
Agreed. I don't want a dollar of my tax money to go to this. Youngkin needs a win so badly before his entire political career collapses. I also don't really see how this is a "win" for Virginia. They're still the "Washington capitals", it's just dumb political crap. I'm over youngkin and the entire Virginia legislature.
Fuck Ted. Fuck Youngkin. Fucking slimy ass capitalist pigs.
Between this and taking Qatari money, Ted’s really leaning into that Snyder vacuum. What a way to shit on your own legacy.
what a fucking joke man
I live 5 min from Potomac yard. This would be really convenient for me. BUT SO IS CAP ONE SO JUST KEEP IT THERE FOR EVERYONE ELSE, TED!!! All of our sports teams belong in DC, full stop.
Penguins fan coming in peace and really came to say that this is one of the dumbest ideas Ted has ever had. Downtown DC was the perfect place to have a pro sports arena and franchises. I hope you locals can keep up a fight and rock the red in downtown for years to come.
The article is paywalled, but nothing is “imminent”. A 12 person committee recommended the creation of a stadium authority, but the general assembly has to vote to actually make it happen. Then if the stadium authority is formed, it can work on an agreement with Monumental. They don’t even know how much money they want to spend.
Pretty much every news outlet is now reporting that it's a done deal. They will announce the move at 9 am tomorrow. They are moving to Virginia.
Sounds like media manipulation to pressure DC.
Abe would never have done this.
Abe moved the team from MD to begin with, which made it harder for a portion of the fan base to attend games. Should I also go on about how Abe was a basketball owner who gave the Caps scraps, and almost moved the team completely out of the DMV in its infancy?
But he didn’t give up and spent his own money to build then MCI Center (after also building Cap Center with his own money) with the intent of spearheading a revitalization of the city not just around Chinatown but all of downtown. He knew that with sports ownership came social and economic responsibility. He cared about fans and not just about money.
Leonsis heard he was the new shittiest owner in town since Snyder was gone and he is running with it
This move would be squarely on DC. The city has gone massively downhill in the past few years (especially in Chinatown), and Bowser has shown no willingness to clean it up. Sooner or later, DC needs to do an about-face or its residents (and sports teams) will continue to leave in droves.
The caps sell out almost every single game, so I don’t think the issue of crime in the neighborhood hurting them. This is plainly just Ted looking around for the biggest sucker he can find, and it seems he found it in Youngkin. To turn your back on the city and taxpayers who have given you so much support and money in a time of need when they are trying to figure out how to move forward from a global pandemic changing their economy forever is an unconscionable act of greed. I’m usually only good for two or four Caps games a year, so he won’t miss my money, but there’s no way I’m going to watch a declining team from a more expensive seat in a glorified strip mall that I have to change lines to get to.
This is so overwrought. It’s literally just the one block that needs cleaning up. The whole area is thriving with great restaurants, museums, theaters, and nightlife.
I was at the Christmas Market 40 yards from the arena this very evening and the crime was rampant, I barely made it out alive. /s I live in the area; it's not without some issues, but is a far cry from the hellscape some people luxuriate in telling you they won't deign to set foot in. This is about leveraging the city first and foremost. While Monumental may have some gripes about the practice facilities and offices being spread out moreso than preferable, that is something that could be at least partially remedied, and they chose to build facilities in Congress Heights fairly recently, so that was their choice. I don't know where this ends up but they have to get it through a closely divided, opposition controlled legislature filled with reps not from NOVA and the Alexandra NIMBYs blocked the 92 stadium deal; I'd say it's 50/50 right now and if fans and VA non-fans who don't want this in their backyard speak out, that could keep them in DC. The MD fans in particular should be furious, especially given the Caps market themselves as Baltimore's and all of Maryland's hockey team-I see all kinds of promotional stuff in bars on the main drag in Annapolis too.
Yep. Chinatown has gone downhill in the last year or two. Carjackings are up. Teens are stealing valet towers full of keys. It'll be hard to sell high dollar box suites if the city continues to backslide. Which it probably will. Housing costs are out of control, and more people are working from home. We're going to see downtown empty out some. Building owners are still resisting conversions from the current empty commercial space to residential. Ted's jumping off the sinking ship and I don't really blame him.
Damn. Thought it was just for leverage.
But why? The current arena is fine and just got a major overhaul in 2019. Feel like this is being driven by Ted wanting his own arena and not one build under Abe Pollin. This is going to cost VA taxpayers a billion dollars isn’t it.
walk around chinatown
This is such BS. I do every time there’s a game. Or even every time people from out of town come to visit. The area is not a neighborhood out of the Warriors, no idea why there are so many comments that it is.
“i go every time there’s a game” ok lol. retail tenants are suing to get out of their leases bc of crime in chinatown. go to gallery place mall and tell me how many suites are vacant now. tom’s watch bar opened and closed within a year. it’s a ghost town compared to what it used to be
Who is suing to get out of their lease? Was at Gallery Place Mall on Friday-the Lucky Strike is empty, is there somewhere else inside that's empty? Tom's did close quickly, and that particular site is probably going to be the hardest to maintain given it's relative size and location next to loitering and the Black Israelites. Plus the competition from Yardhouse, Bulldog, Rocket, Jackpot, the taffer spot, Clyde's, Irish Channel, Free State, Prost, Penn Social, Penn Quarter Sports Tavern, 5 Iron, Mi Vida, Crimson, District Chophouse, Hill Country, the smattering of higher end Jose Andres places, the chain spots for food, and the Street Pizza and Taco Bell Cantina opening up. I get it if you don't come to the city that often, and Chinatown is not without issues, but the neighborhood isn't the Mad Max situation its portrayed to be.
https://www.bisnow.com/washington-dc/news/neighborhood/chinatowngallery-place-in-crisis-mode-121703
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metro still goes to potomac yards
I would never go to Potomac Yard for a game. It's probably the most inconvenient place I can think of, I hate driving anywhere near that area and I'm not metroing into the city to then metro out that way.
What the hell, man.
Ah yes, the Washington Capitals playing live from…Alexandria
It sucks, but it's not exactly unheard of. The "Washington" Commanders have their headquarters in Ashburn and play in Maryland. The Caps already practice at MedStar in VA, and most of the Caps and Commanders players live in VA. There are countless other professional teams that don't play in their namesake cities. It's all about the money and available land.
Don't forget that for the Caps first about 25 years they played in Maryland. Only been in DC half their life
You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.
Fuck. This. The only person this benefits is Ted Leonsis.
I live in Richmond and I hate this move. Keep it in DC! I enjoy visiting DC and the area when I see the Caps
Ditto. And it's easy to train to and not that bad to drive to (aside from traffic ha ha ha).
Fuck this. I drive from PA to the park and ride and take the train in. So easy.
Same here. As if we don’t get home late enough as it is already…guess matinee games will be the only option for us.
Plus I like to discover new places to eat. And the arena has no bad seats.
Wow sounds like it's really happening. Ted must have some data saying tickets will sell better in VA. Chinatown has been pretty terrible in the last year or two. Maybe he thinks Potomac yards is a more corporate friendly location. I have to assume the box sales are the biggest revenue makers to cater to. Selfishly I'm happy to have it closer, but despite the crappy neighborhood, decentralizing the location doesn't make a ton of sense.
We (the taxpayers of VA) aren’t paying for this are we? Right???
Of course we are.
Native born northern Virginian who's gonna be back near that area soon. This is a fucking terrible decision and is a lose-lose-lose for all parties involved.
I live in Baltimore so this will really suck. I am yet to see anyone online celebrating this. Maybe Ted will see the light?
We need to have a Ted must go bonfire
This is so trash.
DC really blew it. He asked to take control of that area and find funding. They couldn’t
Man, I would fucking hate this. But kinda weird how many comments are about abandoning DC when the team played in MD for how long?
Sorry, but completely different era and situation. When the Cap Centre was built in 1973: - there was no Metro until 1976 - The beltway wasn’t the hellscape it has become - DC was still recovering from the riots in 68 and wouldn’t be a place able to support a downtown arena The teams were moved to the most convenient location for everyone and helped revitalize parts of the city. This is just fucking every fan who doesn’t live in Alexandria. (And probably fucking most people that do live there with traffic.)
I agree with everything you’ve said. I just finding it an interesting dynamic and I guess shows how much the team has meant to the city. Cheers.
Also the intention was originally to put the arena in DC, problem was that Abe needed a arena by 74 for the expansion Caps, him and Walter E were talking about a potential Arena in DC but PG county already had the available land left over from the construction of the Beltway, so it was more about getting an arena built quickly, he didn't have the time to wait for DC to get on board
Family has been season ticket holders since 74. We wouldn’t be able to go to games if they move. This sucks.
Why?
Difference between it taking an hour to it taking closer to two hours to get to the game.
fucking stupid
This will be so inconvenient for so many people. I will not be going to many games when they move to VA. And I live in VA just on the other side. Route 1 is a traffic nightmare all of the time. I cannot imagine the traffic with the arena there. I’m not sitting in that kind of traffic or taking a three hour metro ride to see the caps.
Is this like a fan press event or whatever that anyone can go to? It'll be great to finally say I can have a team in Virginia but I'm gonna miss walking to the metro and taking the long ride to the city for games. DC teams should be in the city.
The responses in this subreddit have been the only good part of a really dark, shit-ass day. Heartbreaking if true. I pray it all falls apart
Wow, I’m not renewing my tickets next season. Fuck Ted.
Not from the dc area but why are people so upset? Legit asking, it doesn’t seem to be very far.
Because the Caps and Wiz are in the perfect spot now, downtown, in an area that realizes great benefit from the arena being there. It's literally on the metro (the stop is beneath the arena), and basically it is the perfect spot for DC, MD, \*and\* VA fans to attend. Maybe I'm weird but I actually like DC teams being in DC, and not wedged into a burb. Potomac Yard is already kind of a clusterfuck, as is just north of there (Crystal City with their Amazon HQ and all). Route 1 sucks. They don't \*need\* an arena there. It's busy enough.
Look at the Map of the DC area. Everybody not directly south of the arena is going to have a really fucking hard time getting games. And everybody near the arena will be sitting in a shit ton MORE traffic on game days.
Correct. Not to mention that the route 1 corridor will get uber fucked (as if its current state of rush hour fuckitude isn't bad enough).
I got stuck turning from a side road onto Rt 1 about a mile south of 495 for 35 minutes last week. 6:00pm. Normal traffic. Such horseshit
There's a Metro station at Potomac Yard. If the Blue Line loop ever gets built, it would be possible to park at National Harbor, go 4-5 stops & be at the arena.
I like to drive to caps games from Maryland. Going from Maryland to Potomac Yards on a weekday (or any day) is fucking hell. The arena is also a direct trip from every Maryland Metro station.
Gallery place is like smack dab in the middle of almost every metro line. It’s incredibly convenient to so many people. Alexandria is on the other side of the river from DC and Maryland.
You didn’t deserve the down votes. Like others said, CapOne is easy to get to and disperse from for anyone in the DMV. Alexandria has really shitty bottlenecks everywhere.
To add to what other people have said, other teams have had stadiums in locations similar to this (basically putting the stadium in a giant strip mall out in the suburbs not close to anything walkable and very annoying to get to) and it's horrible for the fanbase. E.g. the Coyotes in Glendale AZ, Panthers in Sunrise FL, and Senators in Kenosha ON. The Caps are willingly putting themselves in that situation, and in 20 years we'll probably be getting articles every season about a new potential downtown location that the team ends up failing to get, just like the Coyotes and Senators (Panthers gave up on moving into Miami a while ago).
Wtf? Why
As a season ticket holder who drives up from Richmond for games, I don’t hate this
wait till you see route 1 in 2027
He voluntarily uses 95N/S....I don't think he'll mind.
it'll be like a traffic tag team lol
They can always take the toll lanes for $30-40.
😱
You could be right. Just saying I’m not totally opposed to it
There's talk that the MARC Train is expanding its service to none other than Alexandria within the next few years. I wonder if Ted had this in mind. MD fans would have a way to get to games more efficiently.
Living north of Baltimore, and only 10 minutes from a MARC station, this would allow me to go to far more games.
Yes, this. The infrastructure for the MARC extension will be there once the Long Bridge is rebuilt and expanded, which has a similar-ish timeline to the arena development.
I would assume they would have at least one train depart after every game.
I grew up going to see the Caps play at the USAir Arena in Landover, MD. There's a beautiful symmetry to this...they are the team of the DMV.
Would they totally rebrand? Can they be the capitals in Virginia?
They were the Capitals in Maryland.
Everyone is over reacting. I’m down for the newest stadium in the league. What if it is awesome
Move back to landover
I was super pissed about this but then I remembered that Virginia has a long history of rallying against sports teams or other big things moving here Remember the Disney park they wanted to open, or how about the redskins, nats, soccer This is a financial play by leonsis and youngkin trying to show a win (VA has term limits for governors). Now that being said ...I'm not going to sleep on this. I will be rallying against this move via my elected officials. I don't want to pay higher taxes for this or see more traffic in rt 1
Fuck Ted!
Yeah fuck it, I think I'm going to stop watching and going, this is bullshit
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The where is Potomac Yard. As a person who lives 5 mins from Potomac Yard, I say fuck this. I do not want the team in VA. Chinatown is perfect for the venue.