Washington Capitals, Wizards Teams Set to Move to New Virginia Entertainment District

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin gestures to supporters while arriving at Piney Branch Elementary School in Bristow, Va., on Nov. 7, 2023. Win McNamee/Getty Images

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced on Dec. 13 a $2 billion plan for a new entertainment district that would include drawing the NHL’s Washington Capitals and the NBA’s Washington Wizards across the Potomac River to play in a new arena in Northern Virginia.

The relocation of the U.S. capital’s professional hockey and basketball teams is all but a done deal, even amid District of Columbia officials’ efforts to keep the teams in Chinatown, where their arena, the Capital One Center, is located.

ESPN first reported the imminent move on Dec. 12.

The teams would relocate to the nine-million-square-foot Potomac Yard in Alexandria, Virginia, just outside Washington.

“In this spectacular sports and entertainment district will be at the heart of the most vibrant innovation corridor in the world,” Mr. Youngkin said at an event at Potomac Yard.

“The corridor that starts at Amazon HQ2 in Arlington and stretches through the Virginia Tech Innovation Campus and will find its anchor here in Alexandria with this amazing sports and entertainment district.”

In addition to the new arena for the Capitals and Wizards, the 70-acre complex will also include a headquarters for Monumental Sports & Entertainment, which owns the Wizards and Capitals; a Wizards practice facility, in the southeast neighborhood of Anacostia; a 6,000-seat performing arts venue; restaurants; hotels; a conference center; an expanded e-sports facility; and other community and residential spaces.

Monumental Sports & Entertainment is owned by billionaire Ted Leonsis.

Benefits to Virginia

Mr. Youngkin touted the economic benefits of the massive project, which will involve both the public and private sectors and must be approved by the Virginia General Assembly. He said there will be no new taxes to construct the complex and that Monumental Sports & Entertainment has put forth a $400 million investment in addition to the City of Alexandria investing in the 6,000-seat performing arts venue.

It'll also include the Virginia Tech Innovation Campus.

The project, which Mr. Youngkin said would create 30,000 jobs and bring in an estimated $12 billion, will be developed by JBG Smith, a top construction company in the Washington area.

The entertainment and sports district will be accessible by public transportation; the Washington Metro already has a stop at Potomac Yard.

While not stated at the event, the likely relocation of Washington’s hockey and basketball teams comes amid rising violent crime in Chinatown. Violent crime in that neighborhood has risen by 36 percent from a year ago, according to The Washington Post, citing the Metropolitan Police Department.

In August, a meeting organized by Brooke Pinto, who represents Chinatown on the Council of the District of Columbia, consisted of testimony from concerned neighborhood members about public safety in the area.

“In Chinatown, we’re seeing a lot of drug use and sales. We’re seeing an increase of complaints and harassment,” said Ms. Pinto, according to WUSA9, a CBS affiliate. “We’ve seen some shootings down by the Capital One arena, other assaults with weapons.”

Crispus Gordon III, director of government relations and community affairs for Monumental Sports & Entertainment, also commented.

“Our revolving door and lack of prosecution has had a negative effect on the community,” Mr. Gordon said, according to The Washington Post.

Nonetheless, following Mr. Youngkin’s event, when asked by The Epoch Times if the state of public safety in the neighborhood where the Capitals and Wizards play had an effect on the expected relocation of the teams, the governor sidestepped.

He said the possible relocation of the teams “is affirmation of what’s happening in Virginia.

“We have become one of the leading, if not the best, places to relocate businesses, to build [a] future, to raise a family. And this is what Northern Virginia also in this innovation corridor reflects,” Mr. Youngkin said.

The Capital One Arena will remain as a venue for concerts as well as the home facility of the WNBA’s Washington Mystics, Mr. Leonsis said.