Photo by ClydeoramaMetro will stay open later than its scheduled closing time if the Washington Capitals’ upcoming playoff games run after the transit system’s normal closing time.
If games run late, Metro will stay open to passengers getting on at Gallery Place-Chinatown, Metro Center, and Judiciary Square. The cost of keeping the system running late will be paid for by the Verizon Center, which is owned by Capitals boss Ted Leonsis’ Monumental Sports and and Entertainment. Under terms of an agreement with Metro, Monumental will place a $29,500 deposit for each additional hour of service, and receive back $2.68—the cost of an average fare—for each rider that boards.
No other stations in Metro will remain open to take in passengers, though they will all remain open to riders getting off the late-night trains. That might not be an issue for the Capitals’ series opener tonight against the New York Rangers, which begins at 7:30 p.m. And Game 2, scheduled for Saturday, drops the puck at 12:30 p.m. But in case there’s overtime, Caps fans will be able to taunt Rangers transplants on the the platform after the game.
Of course, not all of Washington’s sports teams are willing to pony up for the late-night Metro service. The Washington football team did at the end of last season, when one of its games was rescheduled for a Sunday night, but the Washington Nationals declined when they made the playoffs last year. It fell to pre-layoff LivingSocial to offer to pick up the tab, though it was never actually needed.
