The District has a skate park, polo fields, softball diamonds and plenty of other facilities for sports — but it doesn’t have a velodrome. That’s about to change.

A group of cycling aficionados have banded together to build a velodrome — an oval-shaped banked track used for racing — in the shadow of Nationals Park in Southeast D.C. (It actually may be in SW, according to JD Land, but still near the park.)

According to David Butterworth, president of Pennsylvania-based Major League Cycling, his group is about two weeks away from finalizing the lease for a 1.5-acre parcel of land where the velodrome would go. The velodrome’s estimated cost would be $300,000 for the first year, dropping to roughly half of that in the years thereafter. Butterworth said that a number of people have stepped up to cover expenses, but he expects to start a fundraising campaign and set up a membership program.

For Butterworth and his partners, the economics alone make the velodrome viable. “It’s just a great market for cycling,” he said, noting that it’s the third-largest in the country.

The District has hosted pro-level races in recent years, as does Clarendon and Crystal City. Last year, the city was briefly in the running to host the first few stages of the 2012 Giro d’Italia, though Denmark eventually won out. A little further asunder, in late September Richmond was granted the 2015 World Cycling Championships.

The velodrome Butterworth looks to build would be 544 feet in circumference, feature 48-degree banked turns, have stands for up to 60 spectators and parking for 50 cars. Butterworth hopes to make it accessible to the community, not just people already interested in racing.

The closest velodrome to the District is three hours north in Trexlertown, Pennsylvania.