Eastern Conference team makes surprising relocation announcement
There has been a lot of chatter about potential relocation in recent seasons, largely relating to the Arizona Coyotes after they were essentially evicted from Gila River Arena in Glendale, AZ. Well, we did receive an announcement this week regarding relocation, but it wasn't the team or location that anyone was expecting.
On Tuesday, the NHL was shocked when the Washington Captials announced that they were in the process of moving to Northern Virginia. Capitals owner Ted Leonsis was due to join Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin at an event Wednesday in Virginia to announce a deal with the state to bring the Capitals and the NBA's Washington Wizards to Virginia. The deal is reportedly worth $1B.
Leonsis' company Monumental Sports & Entertainment had recently asked D.C for $600M in public funding to renovate the Capital One Arena. The 26-year-old arena has already undergone approximately $160M in renovations.
On the heels of the announcement on Tuesday, the Mayor of Washington D.C, Muriel Bowser announced support and legislation in favour of a downtown revitalization which would include $500M in funding for renovations to the Captials current arena, in one last bid to keep the Caps in D.C..
While nothing is confirmed or will be confirmed soon, given the funding that Virginia is offering, Leonsis will have to make the difficult decision of uprooting both of his teams and upsetting the fan base for greener pastures or settling for half the budget to complete renovations.
| POLL | ||
DECEMBRE 13 | 465 ANSWERS Eastern Conference team makes surprising relocation announcement Will the Capitals and Wizards end up relocating to Northern Virginia? | ||
| Yes | 255 | 54.8 % |
| No, they'll stay in D.C. | 210 | 45.2 % |
| List of polls | ||
