Advertisement - scroll for more content
Upward of 800 people will work around-the-clock this summer as part of the first major phase of a three-year, $800 million renovation project at Capital One Arena. Many of the changes scheduled to be completed ahead of the 2025-26 Washington Capitals and Wizards seasons will go unnoticed by fans, as the initial work will be focused, out of necessity, on the event level of the nearly 30-year-old building. Improvements coming in future years include wider concourses, a 40 percent increase in the number of arena restrooms, expanded concession offerings, the installation of blue seats and a new sound system and scoreboard.
Wizards owner Ted Leonsis on season: 'We weren't tanking, we were developing players'
“We weren’t tanking. We were developing players. It’s a little different than maybe what some of the other teams’ strategy was,” said Leonsis, CEO of Monumental Sports & Entertainment, which also owns the NHL’s Capitals and WNBA’s Mystics.
Leonsis called Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and the mayor of Alexandria, Va., Justin M. Wilson, early Wednesday afternoon to inform them he had reached an agreement with Bowser, ending Monumental’s attempt to move the Wizards and Capitals to a large, undeveloped site in Alexandria’s Potomac Yard. The proposed move to Alexandria, which was announced in mid-December, met a significant roadblock in the Virginia Senate, where key lawmaker L. Louise Lucas, the chairwoman of the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee, opposed the deal. “We made tons of mistakes,” Leonsis said Wednesday night when asked whether Monumental had made errors since the December announcement about Potomac Yard. “But we manage to outcomes, and the outcome is exactly the right one.” Bowser said: “We are the current home, and the future home, of the Washington Capitals and Washington Wizards.”
The attorney general for the District of Columbia contends that the NBA’s Washington Wizards and NHL’s Washington Capitals are obligated to play their games in the downtown arena through 2047, the city's latest salvo to keep them from leaving and one that the teams' ownership believes won't hold up legally. In a letter Brian Schwalb wrote this week to Monumental Sports and Entertainment that was obtained by The Associated Press on Friday, Schwalb cited a 2007 bond agreement for renovations that extended the teams' lease for 20 more years beyond the initial timeframe through 2027.
Wizards proposal to relocate to Virginia facing political hurdles
Sen. L. Louise Lucas, a leading Democratic Virginia legislator, on Monday said that proposed legislation to help pave the way for the NBA's Washington Wizards and NHL's Washington Capitals to relocate to northern Virginia is dead, as far as she's concerned. Lucas, chair of the Senate Finance & Appropriations Committee, first said over the weekend on social media that legislation underpinning the deal was "not ready for prime time" and would not receive a hearing in her committee.
Advertisement
Legislation underpinning a plan to relocate the NBA’s Washington Wizards and NHL’s Washington Capitals across the Potomac River to northern Virginia easily cleared an early hurdle in the state legislature Friday. Lawmakers on the Virginia House Appropriations Committee voted 17-3 to advance the measure, a top priority of Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, to the floor of the House of Delegates.
Advocates of Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin's plan to build a new professional sports arena and entertainment district in northern Virginia say the project would be a generational job-creator so lucrative it will pay for itself. Critics, meanwhile, argue the proposal to lure the NBA’s Washington Wizards and NHL’s Washington Capitals across the Potomac from the nation's capital will amount to an extravagant taxpayer handout to the wealthy owners of the teams' parent company. In the coming 2024 legislative session that kicks off Wednesday, Virginia lawmakers will have to make their position on that divide clear, as they take up complex legislation to enable the move.
Wizards new arena could receive largest-ever public subsidy for a project of its kind
A Northern Virginia sports arena that would move the Washington Capitals and Wizards out of downtown D.C. would receive what would be the largest-ever public subsidy for a project of its kind, an estimated $1.35 billion in state and local funds, if it goes forward. To build the $2.2 billion project, Virginia would need to create a sports and entertainment authority that would issue two bond offerings and would need to contribute an additional $300 million from existing city and state funds, according to a 37-page study produced by investment bank JPMorgan for the state.
Washington Wizards and Washington Capitals owner Ted Leonsis, the CEO of Monumental Sports & Entertainment, is preparing to move his NBA and NHL franchises to a proposed new arena complex and entertainment district in northern Virginia, sources told ESPN on Tuesday. The plan, expected to be unveiled at a news conference with Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin on Wednesday morning in Alexandria, is for the two teams to move to a massive new development in Alexandria's Potomac Yard neighborhood, sources said.
Later Tuesday, as news of Leonsis' plan began to spread, Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser announced a new bill offering Monumental Sports $500 million in financing for "a complete renovation and modernization" of Capital One Arena. "This proposal represents our best and final offer and is the next step in partnering with Monumental Sports to breathe new life and vibrancy into the neighborhood and to keep the Washington Wizards and the Washington Capitals where they belong -- in Washington, DC," Bowser said.
Advertisement
Washington Wizards relocating to Virginia?
A group of Virginia state lawmakers plans to meet behind closed doors Monday afternoon to consider a potential deal to bring the Washington Capitals and Wizards to a new arena in Northern Virginia, according to four people with knowledge of the situation. Both teams would move to a new facility anchoring a massive mixed-use development in Alexandria’s Potomac Yard neighborhood, according to three of the four, all of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss details of the plan.
Jeff Skoll joining Wizards ownership group
Billionaire Jeff Skoll is buying into Monumental Sports & Entertainment, the parent of the NBA’s Washington Wizards and NHL’s Washington Capitals. An architect of eBay’s early business and its eventual IPO, Skoll joining the entity controlled by chairman Ted Leonsis. MSE’s investors include billionaire Laurene Powell Jobs, BET co-founder Sheila Johnson, and Nationals owner Mark Lerner.
Comcast is selling one of its regional sports networks. The cable giant has a deal to sell NBC Sports Washington to its minority partner in the RSN, Monumental Sports & Entertainment. Monumental currently owns 33 percent of the RSN and will acquire the remaining 67 percent from Comcast. Financial terms were not disclosed, though the companies say the deal is expected to close next month. NBC Sports Washington has the RSN rights to Washington Wizards NBA games and Washington Capitals NHL games, among others. Monumental, led by CEO Ted Leonsis, owns the Wizards and Capitals.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement