With three big tents, a band, lots of food and around 1,000 people on hand at its latest community event in Southeast Washington, D.C. United officials reaffirmed their commitment Sunday to completing a deal to build a soccer stadium at Poplar Point, despite several media reports that the negotiations have fallen apart.
“We had meetings on Friday,” D.C. United President and Chief Executive Officer Kevin Payne said. “We have a whole bunch of meetings on Monday and Tuesday, so I’m not sure how that’s categorized as collapsed. Our position is pretty clear: We want to be in the District. We want to be in Ward 8 at Poplar Point. Until somebody tells us no, that the district doesn’t want us here, we’re going to continue down the path that we’re going down.”
The team recently released drawings for its planned $150 million stadium on its Web site. As part of its deal with the city, it has asked for $200 million in subsidies for infrastructure development.
“The key principles that everyone agreed upon have remained the same,” said United co-Managing Partner Victor MacFarlane, a real estate developer who led a group that bought the team in January. “There’s been no disagreement on that. Quite honestly, I think they’re actually supportive of us. I’m just not sure they believe that the community’s as strongly supportive of us.”
MacFarlane said there hasn’t been progress in a long time but the team had no plans to look at alternative locations.
“It’s not like we’ve ever gotten to a point where anybody’s ever said, ‘This issue’s a deal breaker,’” Payne said. “We’ve never had a conversation that would lead to that.”
