We’ve heard from pundits, journalists, lawmakers, fans, and lawyers on our airwaves in the wake of Monumental Sports’ press conference Wednesday announcing a planned Capitals and Wizards move to Virginia – but until later in the afternoon, we hadn’t heard from Ted Leonsis’ outfit itself.
That’s when Jim Van Stone, the COO of Monumental, joined Grant & Danny to discuss the huge news, and revealed that while the announcement to the public was a whirlwind, this is something that has been in the works for quite a while.
“This was probably a couple year process for us. We always have great conversations with all the jurisdictions in the marketplace, and this one was a long time coming and a lot of work,” Van Stone said. “I think we've got the framework of a really unique partnership and something that long-term is gonna be great for our fans, and the level of experiences that we're gonna be able to provide potentially in this new campus that we're talking about, I think is gonna be best in class in our industry.”
Van Stone confirmed that being able to get such a large footprint with headquarters for many of their properties, including Monumental Sports Network and their E-sports silo, was a big factor in choosing Potomac Yard, and that ability “was really special for us organizationally ,and in the long run, will be really great for our fans and the community.”
But, he also confirmed that the company has designs on keeping Capital One Arena as a “100-plus event a year” venue, likely with the Mystics, Go-Go, and a fuller slate of college events and concerts.
So what is the company’s thought on the probability of this all going through?
“I think we feel really good about it. This was the first step for us, and there’s definitely a couple more levels of approval at the state and local level, but we think we did a great first step today,” Van Stone said. “Coming to this kind of agreement of a framework of a partnership, we think really puts us in line to be able to carry this thing through, so we're optimistic. We still have a little bit of a runway to go on it, but we're gonna all work hard at it and I think there's a great collaboration in the room, and I think we're gonna hopefully, knock on wood, move forward quickly.”
Van Stone did also confirm that Monumental has a great relationship with DC, but reiterated the space for a “Monumental campus” eliminates some challenges on their end while also adding to the slate at Cap One Arena, because the DMV “has the capacity to host two major facilities in one marketplace.”
