There's a chance that the Washington Capitals and the Washington Wizards could move to the Potomac Yard area of Alexandria.
The Washington Post reported Monday afternoon that the two teams were in talks with Virginia officials about building a arena that would anchor a multi-use development in the northeast Alexandria neighborhood. A group of Virginia state officials voted in favor of the plan, but it still has many steps to cover before it becomes reality.
"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. A Virginia stadium authority would own the larger complex and lease it to Monumental Sports & Entertainment, which owns the Capitals and the Wizards," according to The Washington Post.
The two teams right now play at the Capital One Arena in the Penn Quarter neighborhood in Washington, D.C. The arena opened in 1997 and is owned by Monumental Sports and Entertainment. In addition to the Caps and the Wizards, the arena hosts the Georgetown University men's basketball team and has hosted professional wrestling, gymnastics, figure skating and major concert events in the past decade.
The Potomac Yard is newly accessible by Metro — the long-awaited Metro station opened in May of this year servicing the Blue and Yellow lines. The current Capital One Arena is situated directly above Gallery Place, with access from the Green, Yellow and Red lines.
To proceed, the arena construction agreement would have to be approved by a state commission, maybe the Virginia General Assembly and the Alexandria City Council, which has been quiet on the issue.
What do you think?
In an unscientific online poll by Alexandria Living Magazine Tuesday, 57% of respondents said "No!" in response to the question, "Do you want the Capitals and the Wizards to move to Alexandria's Potomac Yard area?" (The other opens were "Yes!" at 35% and "I'm not sure..." at 7%.)
Instagram comments (see below) seemed to be largely against the move, with residents citing concerns about parking, traffic along Route 1 and physical space.
"We don’t have enough room for schools and sports fields, or housing, but we should move an arena in?," one resident commented on Instagram.
"No! I’m generally pro development and am excited about Virginia tech, Amazon, etc, but this would be so annoying," another person wrote.
