Mayor Announces Deal: D.C. United Soccer Stadium Bill Goes to City Council

D.C. United Soccer Stadium

The $300 million dollar waterfront stadium complex will sit on three acres of land near Nationals Park at Buzzard Point. The stadium was reportedly in the works as early as mid-2005 at a site called Poplar Point, part of a 110-acre mixed-use land zoned for a hotel, residential, office, and retail use. The plan was originally announced in January of 2007 — by that summer talks had broken down over the amount United would commit to paying for the proposed stadium. Politics after the cost overruns at Nationals Park played heavily into the current stadium deal including a $150 million cap on Municipal spending on the infrastructure improvements necessary to the project.

In January of 2008, the team announced that it was looking into other stadium sites; at one point or another those sites included Loudon County in Virginia and Prince George’s and Montgomery Counties in Maryland. In October 2009, Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon asked the Maryland Stadium Authority to look into a light-rail connected stadium to lure the team out of the District and into a waterfront site in Baltimore City.

Ultimately, United announced it remained committed to finding a suitable stadium location in the District. The current deal was originally reported in January of 2011, with the team officially announcing the deal on July 5, 2013.

The Deal

The city has agreed to finance up to $150 million of spending to upgrade and modify infrastructure for the development, while United will be responsible for the estimated $150 million stadium itself. Eighty-eight percent of the property is currently owned by the City, while the other parts of the land are owned by two individuals with whom the city is in the final stages of negotiation of a buyout/land-swap deal involving the Reeves Municipal Center at U and 14th Sts., NW; the city government plans to move to a new building in the Southeast neighborhood of Anacostia. Mayor Gray’s office has championed the stadium and, despite losing the Democratic nomination for reelection (largely due to a campaign finance scandal surrounding his initial mayoral campaign in 2010 against incumbent Mayor Adrian Fenty), has accelerated the deal in the waning days of his office.

If there is to be a deal at the Buzzard Point site it must happen before the Mayor and city council elections in November, as likely Mayor-elect Muriel Bowser seems unlikely to back the deal as currently written. Independent candidate Joe Catania is also a critic of the current deal and it remains unclear whether the negotiations could continue under their administrations at that specific site. Failure to secure this deal could have several consequences, the likeliest of which most D.C. United fans have no patience for: an extension of the contract to play at the RFK stadium location while talks once again get left on low heat.

The Argument for a D.C. United Soccer Stadium

It should be of critical importance to D.C. United, its fans, and the D.C. City Council that this stadium deal come to fruition this time, and no single reason is more obvious than the financial reward and potential to further revitalize a growing and improving  Washington, D.C. While at this point I haven’t found a specific study or estimate, the District stands to gain millions from property and sales taxes associated with the stadium in the future, along with the creation of hundreds of jobs for the District’s residents; this stadium is an investment in the future of the city, ensuring that vital city programs can be funded. It also puts to use land which the city is not currently using–this idle land comes at minimal cost to the city in a time when the city is already growing rapidly; what the Verizon Center and Convention Center did for Chinatown area the Buzzard Point Stadium can help continue with Nationals Park in Southwest.

It is also important for the City Council to realize that the promise of the stadium can only keep the club here for so long before the importance of building a soccer specific stadium outweighs the desire to keep an original MLS franchise within the District’s borders. D.C. United has been given reasons to leave before and there is no reason to believe that Baltimore, a city which can be expected to be a future expansion candidate should MLS expand beyond Garber’s 24-team league, or any other city wouldn’t love to pluck the team off for themselves.

More realistically, however the counties in Maryland and Virginia surrounding Washington may just take the bait and move to a location more willing to make the necessary investment. The fact of the matter is that soccer is a growing sport and fans are flocking to stadiums throughout the country to watch clubs play; from Seattle and Portland to Orlando City, MLS and soccer as a whole are on the cusp of a nationwide breakthrough in attendance and viewership on the heels of a landmark media package deal for MLS and US Soccer. Demographic growth in the United States plays to soccer’s favor, with a ballooning Hispanic population expected to make up nearly half of the total population in the next 40 years.

It is also of critical importance for United to remain in D.C.; urban centers provide the greatest base of soccer aficionados and the greatest connectivity to public transit and existing infrastructure. In a city such as Washington, which is achieving population growth in the segments of the population most likely to watch soccer and most promising for turning into MLS fans and this is invaluable, D.C. United will be more accessible and affordable for its fans if it is geography is close and connected to the major transportation hubs its fans already use.

The Buzzard Point site’s proximity to Nationals Park allows fans to enjoy both sports live at only a short walking distance from one another. There have been several times since the opening of Nationals Park that the only thing preventing me from going to a baseball game was how long it was going to take to get on the metro, transfer trains to the green line, and hit up the ballpark. The opposite has proven equally true. Americans, and Washingtonians especially, love sports. The opportunity to enjoy both sports increases the opportunity for United to grab the attention of additional potential fans. As a bonus for the league, those fans would truly be MLS fans as opposed to those who choose Liverpool or Real Madrid first and MLS teams second.

As one of Major League Soccer’s original clubs and one of only two teams without a soccer-specific stadium built or in the works, this project is of the utmost importance to both D.C. United and the league as a whole. Leasing old football stadiums deprives clubs of huge sources of revenue: ticket sales, parking fees, and special events. Without that funding MLS teams operate at an even greater financial disadvantage when trying to lure in top-flight talent–whether they be Americans leaving MLS to play in more lucrative European leagues or the best foreign talents–which help to continue improving the quality-of-play of MLS teams and establishing MLS as a major force in world club soccer. It is also critically important to have a skilled league for the future of American international soccer, grooming the next generation of national team stars and exposing them to top-notch teams and players earlier and more often.

As the City Council moves closer to debating and voting on this critical proposal, I hope they consider the benefits of this plan for the city while realizing that any success the team and league achieve will pay additional dividends to the District, allowing for the Council to continue improving our city and attracting new residents and tax dollars. It is through this type of growth that the Council can hope to build and invest in the city’s bright future, while keeping a major attraction with a winning tradition in their original hometown for residents and visitors alike.

The Buzzard Point stadium project is a triple-win for the city, club, and league and its passage will be a major milestone for soccer in the United States and for the future of the District. A sold out opening day in March of 2017 will serve as an ample reward and vindication for the investment the city and team make this year. I look forward to the passage of this bill and the final construction of a home for D.C. United to begin, and the rest of the MLS community should view this moment as a watershed and a rallying point for the future of our sport and league.