D.C. United packing up their shin pads and moving to Baltimore has been a hot rumor for, well, years. Speculation that a move might be on the horizon picked up some more steam this week, as the City of Baltimore released a year-long study on the positive economic impact the team and a new stadium might have if they moved north. The study, which you can read after the jump, is mostly a whole bunch of sizzle about how great it would be if United relocated, talking plenty about tax revenue bumps, job creation and so forth.

In response to the study, D.C. United President and CEO Kevin Payne issued the following statement:

“We appreciate the diligence with which the Maryland Stadium Authority studied the economic impact of a D.C. United Stadium in Baltimore. We’re not surprised at the finding that our stadium will drive tens of millions of dollars in new spending each year, attract hundreds of thousands of fans annually, help create hundreds of new jobs and generate millions of dollars of new State and Local tax revenues. We appreciate the interest that Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and the City of Baltimore have shown in our team and potential stadium, and will continue our conversations as we work toward the best possible long-term home for D.C. United.”

We’re not reading too much into Payne’s words about Rawlings-Blake and the city, and neither should you — after all, this isn’t even the first time that a study has said the exact same thing. In 2009, Prince George’s County came to similar conclusions, and even went so far as to scout locations with team ownership and attempt to push legislation through which would have funded the bill. Of course, like it has so many times for United during their attempts to move out of decrepit RFK Stadium, that plan fell apart because the Prince George’s County Council couldn’t agree on how to pay for the thing. What’s to say that Baltimore will be any different?

The entirety of the study, after the jump.