Washington Capitals and Wizards plan to move to Virginia-UPDATE

[opus]

>>>The National Hockey League's Washington Capitals and the National Basketball Association's Washington Wizards are slated to move to Alexandria, Virginia, as part of a $2 billion entertainment complex effort, the state's Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Wednesday. The complex is expected to open in late 2028, pending legislative approval

The development, about 8 miles south of Washington, D.C., will house the new global headquarters for Monumental Sports & Entertainment, which owns the Capitals and Wizards, as well as the new home arena for the teams. The 9 million square foot district will also feature mixed-use retail, hotel and conference spaces.<<<

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nba...28/ar-AA1lrPS4

[Yong Fang]

DC should rejoice. Their teams aren’t gone, they just moved a few miles. Plus another jurisdiction is paying for it and not them. Win, win.

[biffbronson]

The NFL's Washingon Commanders may also be relocating to Virginia (which would be bigger news than NHL or NBA):

"Virginia’s most considerable commuter lot could soon be home to the Washington Commanders Football Team (formerly Redskins)."

https://www.potomaclocal.com/2022/05...e-new-stadium/

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/...ssible-stadium

Movement of pro franchises in this area is not rare: The Baltimore Bullets became the Washington Bullets, later Wizards, for example (complex history though).

[biffbronson]

Originally Posted by Yong Fang

DC should rejoice. Their teams aren’t gone, they just moved a few miles. Plus another jurisdiction is paying for it and not them. Win, win.

I'm sure Montreal is happy their MLB franchise moved to DC. Not.

[Bonniegirl]

Washington DC is just basically a section of Virginia and Maryland anyway !

[Duster76]

Originally Posted by biffbronson

I'm sure Montreal is happy their MLB franchise moved to DC. Not.

Actually the citizens of Montreal as a group appear to be doing just fine without baseball. Here is an article that appeared in the Montreal Gazette last July discussing the overall interest in baseball in the city and the possibility of baseball returning:

Major League Baseball will never come back to Montreal: economics prof
"It's a lot of money to pay for nostalgia," says Moshe Lander. And taxpayers aren't in the mood to pay.

Author of the articleanny Gallagher • Special to Postmedia Network
Published Jul 04, 2023


It’s an issue that is tender and sensitive for Montreal baseball fans, and an economics professor at Concordia University isn’t holding back.

Moshe Lander firmly believes there will be no return of baseball to Montreal to replace the Expos.

“They’re not going to get a team. It’s not going to happen,” Lander said in a phone interview. “I don’t think baseball is an attraction like it was in the 1960s when they got a franchise.

“Now Toronto, to some extent, runs Canada, and Toronto would not want Montreal to infringe on their rights.”

Lander apologized for being the “purveyor of bad news” for anyone looking to get a team back, but said he was just being honest.

A new stadium downtown would run into the “billion-dollar-plus range, and the idea of public taxpayer money to finance such a stadium” would not be accepted, he said.

“That idea doesn’t go down with taxpayers. There would be instantaneous pushback. Income inequality is so pronounced.”

The Montreal Baseball Group — headed by Stephen Bronfman and Mitch Garber — has no interest in an expansion franchise or relocated team. Garber told the Canadian Baseball Network website in October 2022 that his group was against pursuing a team that would play the traditional 162 games after they fell in love with the split-season, part-time concept with Tampa Bay — a scenario quashed by Major League Baseball in January 2022.

Bronfman has never publicly made a statement in favour of going after a traditional franchise. To date, no other individual or group has come forward to say they are taking up the cause.

[opus]

Never mind (for now)

Talks on luring NHL’s Capitals and NBA’s Wizards to Virginia are over, city of Alexandria says

[Dead2009]

Originally Posted by opus

Never mind (for now)

Talks on luring NHL’s Capitals and NBA’s Wizards to Virginia are over, city of Alexandria says

Yeah cause theyre now talking to the gov. of Maryland
https://www.thebaltimorebanner.com/s...DXYAF5BOL467A/