Washington Wizards, Capitals Leaving DC For Virginia In Tentative Deal

Washington Wizards, Capitals Leaving DC For Virginia In Tentative Deal

The Washington Wizards and Capitals have called downtown D.C. home for a long time. However, that will no longer be the case. Ted Leonsis has struck a deal with Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin to move both teams into nearby Alexandria.

Pending state approval, a new $2 billion entertainment venue will be built to replace Capital One Arena. It’s an ambitious project, and one that still has some hoops to jump through before becoming official. If it does, Alexandria would host the state of Virginia’s first-ever pro sports teams.

Despite being less than ten miles apart, the proposed project holds significant ramifications, the primary one being over 30,000 jobs being created in Alexandria. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has already announced a counterproposal to this that would authorize half a billion dollars to renovate Capital One Arena. The next few months should be quite the spectacle as this move unfolds.

D.C. sports as a whole are not doing too hot these days. However, there is definitely some recent success to brag about; right before the pandemic was a golden period of sorts, as the Caps won the Stanley Cup in 2018 and the Nationals brought home the World Series in the Fall of 2019.

Stars With The Stars And Stripes

There have also been some big names that have called our nation’s capital home. Of course, Alex Ovechkin is the first name. The Great 8 has had one of the greatest careers in the twenty-first century and has a real shot of breaking Wayne Gretzky‘s goalscoring records in a Capitals sweater.

Furthermore, Juan Soto was the game-breaking bat that helped deliver the Nats’ lone World Series title alongside franchise icons Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg. You cannot just condemn these teams as afterthoughts. The Wizards, despite next to no team success, have seen All-Stars like John Wall, Bradley Beal and Gilbert Arenas suit up over the years.

Love them or hate them, they will bring in some eyes one way or another.

In a rather surprising piece of news, both the Wizards and Capitals look on their way out of downtown DC. They would be joining the Commanders as yet another team to reside elsewhere in the DMV area.

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