Reply to Wizards and Caps could be moving to Potomac Yard

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Can someone please explain to me what's so bad and outdated about the current arena? [/quote]

Nothing. [b]The initial lease expires in 2027,[/b] so Ted either needs to re-up, and he is asking for improvements which the city has pledged $500M oir he needs a new place for his teams to play.

The arena itself is fine and has had numerous city financed improvements over the 25 years it has been occupied.[/quote]

This. The entire issue for Ted is that his sweetheart lease with the city of DC expires in 2027. He's been paying a below-market rent this entire time for the ground under the arena according to a formula. The final annual rent for the land will be around $900K per year in 2026. After that, the contract is up and DC gets to renegotiate rent payments with Monumental.

It's actually kinda crazy that DC is offering him $500M to improve the arena. When does your landlord offer you money to upgrade the place you rent? Never, of course.

More than anything, I think Ted is psychologically triggered by being powerless in 2027 when the lease expires. He will then have to negotiate with DC from a position of weakness and the current political environment in cities are not friendly to billionaire sports owners. It's not the same as 25 years ago when a billionaire could get a subsidized stadium and buy off all the local pols. There's a lot more class consciousness and scrutiny over where tax dollars are flowing. [/quote]

Pollen, Ted's supposed mentor, paid for most of the original MCI Center's costs.  Ted takes a different view on who should spend money on a new arena.

[/quote]

Leonsis also wants to create an entertainment destination under control of Monumental and he wants to make a lot more money off the entire place as an attraction.  It would have restaurants, sports bars, other entertainment and many, many ways for him to make way more money.  So, it's not about the current arena.  It's about him building an entertainment attraction.

The problem is that what he wants to build is not actually great for Virginia either.   It is going to cost many taxpayers a lot of money and only a small fraction of those taxpayers will receive any benefit from the venue.  It is a net cost and an expensive one at that, for the small population that goes to sport venues and sporting events vs the rest of the state tax payers.  Considering how poor the rest of Virginia is compared to the northern Virginia suburbanites, that's literally robbing the poor to pay the rich.[/quote]

This fan couldn't care less about an entertainment district.  I attend a Wizards game to attend a Wizards game.  This pitch is bizzarre.  Ted has stated that, with Caps/Wizards games, Capital One Arena has too many restrictions to hold other events, so freeing up Capital One by moving the teams will allow Capital One to attract other entertainment events.

[/quote]

Which is interesting since the last time I checked, Ted controlled the Capital One Arena, the Baltimore arena, the George Mason arena and the Entertainment complex in Congress Heights. Plenty of venues to hold events all across the region. Sure he doesn't have an outdoor venue, but with Jiffy Lube Live and Merriwether Post along with Wolf Trap, there are already three venues that can hold 10,000-15,000 which is normal for those places.[/quote]

Another outdoor venue for bands.  But I guess the added attraction here will be the airplanes landing and taking off from Reagan.  Brilliant![/quote]

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