The Washington Wizards are 3-20, barely ahead of pace to not be the worst team in NBA history…not exactly the kind of product one wants to promote as they announce a move to a new arena, right?
Joe House, who hosts a pair of DC sports podcasts on The Ringer, is with John Feinstein and some others, though, in telling EB and Bish that he’s not sold a move is actually coming just yet.
“It’s not really my style to be calm, cool and collected, and to not overreact, but I kind of agree that this is the start of a negotiation,” House said. “We’re in that mode with all sports team owners all across the country that when they want something out of the city where the stadium's located, they create some dynamic where they get some leverage over the city. But the surprising thing to me here is the timing, because it seems like DC has been in dialogue with Monumental about making improvements, and to the city's credit, they addressed the practice court situation that has been a problem at the Capital One Arena with the whole campus that they built out over there at Saint Elizabeth. At least as far as the Wizards go, the city has kind of stepped up, and made an effort to demonstrate its commitment.”
Bish has heard from some folks close to Monumental that this is all serious, and all House could say to that was “I bet those people are hoping for a move, because building out team headquarters downtown has not gone great.”
“That area is still struggling, and it doesn’t have the vibrancy that was once there,” House said, “so those folks who have to go downtown to that spot every day and deal with a city that's struggling to get back on its feet, I bet they like the idea of getting out to some beautiful gleaming new campus that is all windows and glass with views out to the river.
I can imagine that is pretty appealing.”
House also posited that the Wizards, at least, have been ‘second-class citizens to the Caps’ for a long time, especially in the Ovechkin era, so while a move for the Caps makes a ton of sense, “a move for the Wizards feels like a disaster to me.”
“Leonsis struck gold twice – he owns his current building, and he’s using Virginia’s taxpayer money to build a new one,” House said. “I think it's disrespectful to the legacy of Abe Pollin, and runs completely counter to a lot of the rhetoric out of Ted about his commitment to the city and honoring Abe's legacy and recognizing what Abe Pollin did.”
Take a listen to House’s entire call-in above, which also includes some thoughts on the struggles of the actual Wizards team (and how remaining bad would hurt a move),