The Washington D.C. Council voted unanimously Tuesday to spend $515 million over the next three years to help Washington Wizards and Capitals owner Ted Leonsis modernize Capital One Arena and expand his company, Monumental Sports & Entertainment, into the surrounding area.
As reported by The Washington Post, this followed an agreement Leonsis and Mayor Muriel E. Bowser reached last week to keep the teams playing in the downtown arena after officials in Virginia tried to lure them away from D.C.
Related: $515M Renovation of Capital One Arena to Keep Wizards, Caps in D.C.
City leaders hope these developments will transform the Gallery Place and Chinatown neighborhood into an entertainment district that could boost downtown’s ailing economy, according to Michael Brice-Saddler and Meagan Flynn, reporting for the Post.
“We are grateful to the Council for passing legislation that builds a true partnership between the District and Monumental Sports to revitalize downtown in an integrated way for our fans and the community,” Monumental said in a statement on social media Tuesday after the vote, the Post reported. “Our shared vision for a transformational entertainment district that is a destination for neighbors and visitors will ensure the vibrancy of downtown for years to come.”
The council’s move to allocate funds toward the arena’s renovation and expansion is separate from a non-binding 14-page term sheet detailing the more specific elements of Bowser and Leonsis’s agreement, Brice-Saddler and Flynn reported.
The terms of the tentative agreement, a copy of which was obtained by the Post on Monday afternoon, go to significant lengths to address Leonsis’s concerns about public safety around the arena, as well as his desire to grow the footprint of his company, Monumental Sports & Entertainment. But some of its provisions raised early concerns from lawmakers seeking to ensure the District gets sufficient return on its investment.
Related: Virginia Budget Excludes Arena for Wizards, Capitals
As reported by the Post:
Under the tentative agreement, which could change as D.C. and Monumental continue negotiations, Leonsis would be able to use $15 million in public funds that were added to the city’s original $500 million offer from December toward improvements in the alleyway between Capital One Arena and Gallery Place. The term sheet details perks for Leonsis ranging from security enhancements to parking incentives, and includes a clause that would exempt his company from any future tax that is intended to support other professional sports franchises.
Council member Kenyan R. McDuffie told Albert that he was concerned that some provisions in the term sheet might require the city to incur additional costs, questioning whether the District should be in a stronger negotiating position when Leonsis’s original plan to relocate the Capitals and Wizards to Northern Virginia fell apart.
“We’re going to have a process that allows us to ask some questions to work through those details, recognizing that we want Monumental to be here, but we don’t want to give up everything and the kitchen sink in the process,” McDuffie said.
In response, Albert stressed that the terms were nonbinding. D.C. and Monumental are expected to begin working toward a final term sheet over the next 45 days; any agreement will be subject to approval from the NBA and NHL, according to the tentative terms.
