Washington Wizards, Capitals Plan New Arena in Virginia for 2028
Ted Leonis, who owns the Washington Wizards and Capitals through Monumental Sports & Entertainment, announced plans today for a new entertainment district outside D.C. in the Potomac Yard area of Alexandria, Va., that would house a new arena for his sports teams.
The public-private partnership with the city, state, MSE and developer JBG Smith still needs legislative approval, but a new venue would be tentatively scheduled to open in 2028 if the proposal is finalized. Leonsis and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin are hosting a press conference Wednesday morning to make the official announcement.
More from Sportico.com
“The opportunity to expand to this 70-acre site in Virginia, neighboring industry-leading innovators and a great academic partner, would enable us to further our creativity and achieve next-generation, leading work—all while keeping our fans and the community at the forefront of everything we do,” Leonsis said in a statement.
Virginia Tech is scheduled to open its 3.5-acre Innovation Campus next year at the Potomoc Yard site, while a new metro station opened there in March.
The new MSE site would feature an arena, the corporate headquarters for MSE, a media studio for Monumental Sports Network, the Wizards practice facility, a performing arts venue and an expanded esports facility, along with new retail, restaurants and conference and community gathering spaces. The Capitals practice facility is already in northern Virginia.
MSE owns the teams’ current arena, Capital One Arena, located in D.C.’s Chinatown neighborhood; the city owns the land on which the building sits. Leonsis wants to update the arena to be the home of another of his franchises, the WNBA’s Washington Mystics. He envisions a flexible arena that could fit 10,000-20,000 people to host concerts, sports and other events. Capital One was the 15th-highest-grossing arena for concerts in the world last year, according to Billboard. Leonsis was the first NBA or NHL owner to have a retail sportsbook inside his team’s arena.
Leonsis has big ambitions for MSE. “Our goal is to build the world’s most valuable sports and entertainment company,” Leonsis said at Sportico‘s Invest in Sports event in October. “And to do it in one of the 10 most important extended cities, greater Washington, on the planet.”
On Tuesday, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson unveiled legislation to fund a renovation and modernization of Capital One Arena in a competing plan. The legislation calls for financing of $500 million toward the $800 million renovation project over a period of three years beginning in 2024.
The NBA’s last new arena to open was the Golden State Warriors’ Chase Center in 2019, and the only one currently scheduled to open in the next five years is the Los Angeles Clippers Intuit Dome, making its debut in 2024. In the 1990s, 16 new NBA arenas opened.
Last summer, MSE sold a 5% passive minority stake in to the Qatar Investment Authority. It marked the first time a sovereign fund has invested in major U.S. team sports. Sportico values the Wizards at $3.33 billion, ranked No. 17 in the NBA, and the Capitals at $1.42 billion, ninth in the NHL.
“Our business needs have changed dramatically since our current arena opened in 1997,” Leonsis said. “We believe this expansion would enable us to uphold our commitment to building an exceptional experience for our fans, employees and partners.”
Best of Sportico.com
