It’s official: it looks like Monumental Sports and Entertainment is moving to be the main tenants in a new arena in Alexandria…and also staying in DC?
Wednesday’s press conference at Potomac Yard in Alexandria with Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, MSE CEO Ted Leonsis, Alexandria Mayor Justin Wilson and other dignitaries saw Youngkin say that the state and Monumental Sports have reached an agreement to bring the Capitals and Wizards to NoVa, the tenants in an arena that will be the centerpiece of “a spectacular $2B sports and entertainment district."
The project, which will also include retail and restaurants, a conference center, and a new home for Monumental Sports Network’s studios and E-Sports facilities as well, would have an estimated economic impact of $12 billion and create 30,000 jobs, per Youngkin.
The planned timeline is a groundbreaking in 2025, with the arena opening for the 2028-29 seasons of Capitals hockey and Wizards basketball – one or two seasons after Leonsis can get out of the lease at Capital One Arena by paying a $36 milion bond.
"When we first came out here and we saw 70 acres and the ability to start with a clean state…this place is one of a kind,” Leonsis said at the conference. “It really is a very romantic but also pragmatic vision that we have that we can't do anywhere else.”
The arena is the centerpiece, but where the Caps and Wizards will call home will not be the only priority for the Monumental group.
"While we'd be playing here in a state of the art arena, we are going to be very focused on being a good neighbor,” he said. “That's a big part of our legacy. I come to the office every single day. I walk around the neighborhood."
And, according to Leonsis, there are still plans to maintain a presence in the District proper.
"Our moving here, if all of this goes as planned, we will still be a big part of the entire DMV. We want to leave much more than we take. That is really the promise that my family will continue to do,” Leonsis said. “"My belief is that at Capital One Arena, we can host women's sports. Our intention is to expand here and keep Capital One Arena in DC a great place."
That may mean that, in addition to keeping Georgetown games at the arena, Leonsis would plan to move his other two properties – the WNBA’s Mystics and G-League’s Go-Go, both of which play at Entertainment & Sports Arena in southeast DC – to become tenants of Capital One Arena.
Either way, this announcement comes at the end of a whirlwind 48 hours that went from rumblings of movement to as full-fledged of a moving announcement as it gets. It also came about 12 hours after DC revealed a last-minute plan via press release Tuesday night that the City Council unanimously agreed to give Leonsis $500 million – about 85 percent of the money he was seeking to refurbish Cap One – over a three-year period starting in 2024 “to support a complete renovation and modernization of Capital One Arena,” a package that was the city’s “best and final offer” to Monumental.
That proposal would also extend Monumental’s lease on Cap One through the end of 2052, a five-year extension – although, as mentioned, Leonsis can exit the current agreement in 2027.
The Virginia deal is still contingent on passing several steps, including the Alexandria City Council and the Virginia General Assembly, although the entire Alexandria City Council was in attendance at the presser.
DC Mayor Muriel Bowser and City Council chair Phil Mendelson have a press conference called for 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, which will likely shed more light on the District side of this situation.
