Goodbye D.C., hello P.G.
D.C. United announced Monday that the soccer club would leave Washington and is looking at several sites in Prince George’s County to build a new 24,000-seat stadium.
Officials said they hope construction can begin this year and be completed in time for the 2012 season.
United owner Victor MacFarlane said he is hoping to name a site for the stadium within 30 days but said the decision to relocate is final.
“Emphatically, I want to repeat it again: We want to be in Prince George’s County, we’re going to be in Prince George’s County,” MacFarlane said.
The team, which currently plays at RFK Stadium, had sought for a number of years to work with the District to secure a stadium at Poplar Point in Southeast.
Council member Marion Barry, whose Ward 8 was supposed to be home to a new soccer stadium, wrote an angry open letter to Mayor Adrian Fenty Monday scolding the mayor for the way he has “mishandled” the Poplar Point development.
“You have squandered what you described as ‘a once in a lifetime opportunity,’ ” Barry wrote.
A Fenty spokeswoman said the mayor’s office had not seen the proposed legislation and had no comment about the move.
The Maryland General Assembly still has to sign off on legislation proposed by Prince George’s lawmakers to authorize the Maryland Stadium Authority to sell bonds to build a new stadium.
The estimated $180 million to $195 million price tag for the project wouldn’t be borne by the state or county’s existing tax base, but would instead be paid by new revenues generated by the stadium, team and county elected officials stressed.
“All we’re asking for is that direct taxes that are generated by the stadium be utilized to help fund the stadium,” MacFarlane said, adding that the team will pay rent on the stadium to cover construction costs.
When asked who would be responsible for making up any potential shortfall from projected revenues from the proposed stadium, MacFarlane said it would be the state’s responsibility, but added that that kind of scenario was unlikely.
“We really don’t believe there’s much economic risk,” MacFarlane said. “The studies back it up. Our history backs it up. It’s a non-issue.”
Prince George’s County Executive Jack Johnson said that the proposed stadium, along with the shops and restaurants that would come with it, would create more than 1,000 badly needed jobs. “In these economic times, chances like this don’t come along very often,” he said.
