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With their chances of making the postseason finally dashed on Saturday night after a heartbreaking 2-2 draw in Kansas City, D.C. United's focus moved from the inconsistency of their on-the-field performance to their arguably much more intriguing off-the-field affairs. Besides a potential coaching change and plenty of questions about a major shake-up in the front office, the more pertinent debate is perhaps the still-looming issue of finding a new home for the club.
Steve Goff had the chance to speak to club President Kevin Payne, who confirmed the latest chapter of the drama: that the team has engaged in "serious" discussions with a unnamed, outside-the-Beltway jurisdiction in Virginia regarding a new stadium. Payne was careful to cover his bases though: he called Baltimore's recent interest in having the team relocate there as "very attractive" and noted that several locations in D.C. which have been tossed around over and over – building in the RFK parking lots, even revisiting Poplar Point again – are still technically on the table.
It bears repeating that plenty of MLS's recently-built soccer-specific stadia – in L.A., Salt Lake, Colorado, Dallas, Chicago, and New York's sparkly new digs in Harrison, New Jersey – are located the 'burbs, although new developments in Philadelphia and Houston are firmly set in urban areas. But keep in mind that the last time the team asked the fans, they were firmly in the "stay in D.C." camp.
Do most of you still feel that way, despite United's lackluster performance this year?
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I've noticed that Northern Virginia is dangerously underpopulated with losers.
DC would obviously be best. But outside-the-Beltway Virginia? Come on. Can't they at least stay inside the Beltway?
Problem is... they're looking for serious public funding. That's not even remotely possible in the city - that train has sailed. And it would get shouted down in the close in 'burbs (already happened in Prince George's). They have to look further afield because the owners don't have the cash or clout to make things happen in the city. It's a shame, because I think a 24,000 seat, mostly covered, multi-function stadium would be a nice addition to certain parts of the city (Anacostia, NE, Buzzards Point...)
i'd prefer DC, but if they're going to move anywhere else, it ought to be on top of a metro station.
Agreed! Otherwise I'd never go.
I hear there's plenty of cheap real estate in Prince William County. Unfortunately, they don't take too kindly to immigrants, soccer-playing or otherwise.
I think moving a soccer team beyond the Metro - if not right at a Metro - is a death move. I've only lived in the area for about three years but I'm pretty sure that the wayout-suburban idea, in this area, isn't viable. It might sound nice but it won't be supported beyond the initial rush to see the place. The heart of the support is in the City - regardless of this dream about American soccer and little Alexandra and Chase's youth teams - the suburbs are crap for supporting a professional franchise. Building a 25-30K capacity stadium in D.C., one that can host national team games - men, women, and youth - as well as high school championships, etc. - is the only way this thing works. Heck, you could even use it to promote concerts. The ideal solution is to crush RFK and use half that land to build a new joint.
"The heart of the support is in the City - regardless of this dream about American soccer and little Alexandra and Chase's youth teams - the suburbs are crap for supporting a professional franchise"
Not true. The heart of the support is Hispanic immigrants and they live in Montgomery County and Northern Virgnia.
As for Metro access. There has never been a stadium that has lived or died soley on the basis of public transit access. The Redskins draw 98,000 to FedEx without transit. The Giants, Jets, Devils, and Nets filled the Meadowlands for years without transit.
Most people who go to sporting events own cars. Heck, most people in general own cars. Those that don't are either a) way cool hipsters, or b) people who are poor.
There aren't enough hipsters and if you are too poor to afford a car, you aren't going to the game anyway.
Car ownership in the US is a fact of life. Trying to build a major public project, like a stadium, while catering to the few who chose not to drive is madness.
Build the stadium in Woodbridge or Manassas and you get exactly the same number of fans, if not more, as you would at Poplar Point.
Not true. The heart of the support is Hispanic immigrants and they live in Montgomery County and Northern Virgnia.
That would be an understandable assumption - but it's not true. United's fanbase is incredibly diverse. Sure there are many Hispanic fans, but efforts to bring a lot of Salvadoran, Honduran and Guatemalan soccer lovers into the mix have had mixed results. Many prefer to watch the Mexican and Spanish leagues on TV - or just follow their countrymen for other MLS teams.
United have conducted demographics studies about their core support - and it's pretty white 'n nerdy (with a high median income, which they pitch to potential stadium partners).
The Redskins draw 98,000 to FedEx without transit. The Giants, Jets, Devils, and Nets filled the Meadowlands for years without transit.
Overstatements. Many Redskins fans take Metro to Morgan Boulevard and walk to FedEx. The station is a half mile from the parking lots - and a full mile to the gates. FedEx has relied HEAVILY on public transportation since it opened. It's not transit friendly, but that doesn't mean they don't need it.
New Yorkers can take buses or PATH trains with bus connections to the Meadowlands.
Also, I think those are the two worst stadiums in the history of mankind.
hillvada,
The examples you use - NFL teams, the Devils, and the Nets - aren't comparable in my mind because those are well-established franchises in succesful American sports. The NFL rules the sports world and has for at least the last decade so any comparison to an NFL doesn't make sense. By that theory then they should put an NFL team in Jacksonville...oh wait.
People who are 'poor' go to sporting events, right? How do you think all the Hispanic supportors of United get to the games?
I have no idea about the funding, land, taxes, etc. involved in getting a new stadium built but I'll stand by the idea that if it isn't at a Metro stop - preferably in D.C. - then the team won't last in the area.
At it's heart, soccer is primarly an urban game and supported by those in urban areas - and that's true around the globe. D.C. United's average attendence this year is at something just under 16K per game: I'll say that the suburbs aren't the primary supporters at RFK - and they have cars and the Metro to use. But, for arguments sake, let's say the attendees are split 50/50 (D.C. residents/"immigrants" and suburbanites. If you move the team to beyond the Metro - into either state - how many of those nearly 8,000 fans from the D.C./"immigrant" pool do you think will drive out to Manassas? I'll say it'll be less than 100.
I just don't see it working.
hillvada: i'm going to go all godwin on you here, so bear with me. slavery was a fact of life in the united states in the past. we got past it. no reason the car has to be a way of life either. especially when you live in a city that has good transit, walking, and biking options.
@hillvada: where do you get your stats about fanbase? I've been interested in hard numbers, where do you find them?
"Most people that go to sporting events have cars." : where do you get that data from?
Same number of fans in Woodbridge? Maybe, but damn would it be BORING out there without us DC residents.
To answer the question in the original post, If the team moves out of DC, I cancel my season tickets.
@hillvada: If you truly believe that anyone that does not own a car is a hipster or poor, you have a very one dimensional way of thinking. Perhaps some people do not own a car because the cost vs. benefit of owning a car in DC is about the same as buying a bulk sized bottle of shampoo when you are bald.
Also your statement about FedEx field is woefully inaccurate. Have you been to a game lately? I would say roughly 30-40% of people leaving the stadium walk to the Morgan Blvd. Station. In addition, while the Giants and Jets do have a large number of people that drive to the stadium, football only happens once a week on Sundays (or the occasional Monday Night Football). Soccer on the other hand plays a two-game per week schedule with games on Wednesday evenings and the remaining games split between Saturday evening or Sunday afternoons.
Let's see how many people would commute to NJ to see the Giants play twice a week on Wednesday and Saturday. A true test would be the new Red Bulls stadium. They are building it in Newark by an industrial park.
Where are the comments on the ownership's overinflated sense of entitlement? In this economy, you're not going to find municipalities fighting one another to provide the most attractive bid. You play the hand you're dealt.
Well, if it's nowhere near a Metro, count me as one who'll probably never go to a United game again.
It'd better be in D.C. I'm sick to death of teams skipping for the 'burbs. How novel, we'd have a team that doesn't even play in the right state.
I also meant to give Aaron a call out for pulling "stadia" into his piece. He must be a no-car, poor, hipster to not have used stadiums.
DC United really has to understand that they are "barking up the wrong tree" with this new stadium crusade, for the time being anyway.
NOVA counties are having as many budget issues as everyone else and no County Board of Supervisors is going to entertain spending 1 dollar on a private stadium when they've already had to give up tens of millions in school and road funding, increased taxes etc.
Ffx, Arlington and Loudoun Counties combined have a ~1.5 billion dollar budget deficit, there is no possible way (unless their Supervisors are tired of their jobs and want out) that any of them are going to entertain this.
Everytime DC United brings this up, I just get the feeling they are trying to force a feeling of urgency (oh no...DC United is serious about moving THIS time) onto DC to build them a stadium.
Give it a rest for a couple of years and let the economy and Metro DC's budgets recover. Or build it your damn self.
The new United stadium needs to be in the city, or at worst, inside the Beltway on or near a Metro station.
Anything else will prove to be not viable.
I'd hardly call Harrison the suburbs. The stadium's right across the street from the PATH train with 24-hour service into Manhattan. It's not in NY City, but it's only about as far away from Manhattan as Flatbush (and really only a little further away than Prospect Park).
I'm in the "who gives a s***" camp.
Clearly, that's why you read through the post and comments before chiming in yourself.
I love when people care enough to tell you that they don't care.