https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Cq66qM_wkA#t=30
Supporters of DC United have waited for over a decade to read yesterday’s major headline: “DC Council unanimously approves plan for new DC United stadium“. The process has been a whirlwind for the club and it’s fans, with stadium sites throughout the DC metro region (and even Baltimore) having been considered. Ultimately the dream of a downtown stadium site is on the verge of becoming a reality, with a projected opening day in the Spring of 2017. What this means for fans is immeasurable, as Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium has become somewhat of a fun joke among fans of both the club and league as a while.
RFK is a sacred shrine in the history of US Soccer, but it’s condition and size contributed largely to financial hardship which caused DC to go from dynasty to destitute; a team that had dominated the league in its infancy experienced a five-year playoff drought (2007-2012) and finished 2013 with the worst-ever regular-season record in Major League Soccer history. United’s golden years began to gave way when soccer-specific stadiums became a league standard and negotiations with local governments languished; RFK became a symbol for a team with a storied past, but falling victim to decay. As the years dragged on, fans began to wonder whether they would ever see United play in their own building.
After brief consideration of stadium sites in neighboring Virginia and Maryland (as far away as Baltimore), Jason Levien and Erick Thohir joined the club ownership group and promised that a stadium in downtown Washington, DC would become a reality. After months of behind-closed-doors negotiations with the office of Mayor Vincent Gray, the team and the city announced their original agreement for the stadium at Buzzard Point in southwest DC which included a politically-contentious “land swap” mechanism; this would become the focal point of debate over the stadium project for the next several months.
The City Council and the Mayor’s Office stood on opposite sides over whether a municipal building would be traded with developer Akridge for a parcel needed for the stadium. It was eventually dropped in favor of auctioning the city-owned property off to the highest bidder, a move which cost the city more money in the short term but may reap financial rewards if the price of the property is more than the value appraised in the original deal. The City Council and the Mayor’s Office instead chose to approve a supplementary budget request to allocate public funds to the acquisition of the land parcels needed to construct the stadium.
These developments mean big changes for the club, most importantly an anticipated willingness among the club’s ownership to spend money on big-name Designated Players; fans should expect to begin to bridge the gap between United and teams like the Seattle Sounders, LA Galaxy, and New York Red Bulls in both top-shelf talent and star-power. The stadium will also mean that DC United will keep a much larger share of concessions and other revenue from their events, as well as parking and event fees from all stadium events. United is moving from an era of hardship and debt to one of growth and profitability; this is a recipe for the resurgence of Major League Soccer’s original dynasty and a renewed and rejuvenated fanbase. For a more comprehensive look at how the stadium agreement changes the calculus for DC United starting today, take a look at Steven Goff’s Soccer Insider column at the Washington Post!
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photo credit: Chase McAlpine via photopin cc
