Washington Wizards, Capitals Plan to Depart District For Northern Virginia
Washington’s NBA and NHL franchises are planning to depart their longtime house within the nation’s capital for a brand new facility in Northern Virginia.
Capital One Enviornment in Washington, DC, was the primary U.S. sports activities area to host an on-site retail sportsbook. Now its marquee tenants wish to depart for the suburbs. (Picture: DC Submit)
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) and the groups’ proprietor, Ted Leonsis, Wednesday introduced plans to construct a brand new area complicated for the Washington Wizards and Capitals in Alexandria, Va., just a few miles from the groups’ longtime house in central Washington, D.C., Capital One Enviornment.
If all goes in response to plan, the brand new area will start building in 2025 and the groups would relocate by 2028. A number of hurdles stay between at times, together with state and native authorities approvals. Hampering these is the actual fact the D.C. authorities continues to be making an attempt to persuade Leonsis to vary his thoughts.
Monumental Sports activities and Leisure, the Leonsis-led agency that manages the workforce and area, stated it hopes to maintain Capital One Enviornment open as house to the WNBA Washington Mystics, in addition to concert events and occasions all year long.
D.C.’s Most Profitable Sportsbook
It’s unclear what the announcement would imply for the Caesars Sportsbook positioned inside Capital One Enviornment. Representatives for Caesars and Monumental didn’t reply to requests for touch upon Wednesday.
The sportsbook is probably the most profitable of the retail sports activities betting services within the District of Columbia.
Bettors wagered almost $6 million on the Caesars Sportsbook inside Capital One Enviornment in October of this year, the newest month for which information can be found, in response to the D.C. Lottery Fee. By comparability, the second-largest deal with that month within the metropolis got here in at $3.3 million from the Guess MGM sportsbook at Nationals Park, house of town’s MLB franchise.
If the sportsbook stays open, dropping its marquee tenants might scale back visits to the positioning, though the world’s handy location near D.C.’s central enterprise district ought to assist it preserve some foot site visitors.
Even in the course of the NHL and NBA low season, bettors who wagered in-person have been extra prone to go to Capital One than wherever else in D.C. In July, the slowest month of the 12 months, Caesars’ deal with at Capital One was almost $2.7 million, in comparison with $1.2 million at Guess MGM at Nationals Park.
A New Outpost for Virginia Sports activities Betting?
The proposed Virginia facility is being pitched as a “World-Class Entertainment District” that would come with a brand new area, company headquarters for Monumental Sports activities & Leisure, workforce observe services, a performing arts venue, and different developments.
The announcement made no point out of plans for a sportsbook within the area. However sports activities betting is authorized in Virginia, so it might be unsurprising to see one proposed for the positioning. Caesars has been a licensed vendor in Virginia since 2021, however it is just out there on-line.
Whereas in-arena sportsbooks have grow to be comparatively frequent within the 5 years sports activities betting has proliferated within the U.S., they aren’t one thing beforehand contemplated within the Previous Dominion State. Virginia is presently the most important U.S. state that’s not house to a significant skilled sports activities franchise.
