“Oh boy, Mark’s been out too late last night.”
That’s what Councilman Jack Evans (Ward 2) remembers thinking when local entrepreneur Mark Ein told him he wanted to bring a pro tennis team to the District and build a stadium on the old Convention Center site. In fact, Evans added, being out late is “probably where he came up with the idea.”
But now, Evans admits, the laugh is on him, as Ein’s Washington Kastles sold out nearly every match last summer and are back again, this time with an even bigger stadium in the works. Ein announced on Thursday that D.C. will even host the league championship match.
In noting that Serena Williams will be back with the team, Ein jokingly attributed it to her superstition. “Since she played for the Kastles, she won the U.S. Open and Australian Open,” so of course she wanted to come back, he said.
He told Yeas & Nays that the first family will indeed be invited this year. Noting that the Obama daughters play tennis, he said “if they don’t come here, we’ll come to them.”
And for Evans, the morning press conference was another chance to needle the Redskins. “One of our stated goals is to get every team with “Washington” in the name to play in Washington,” he said. “We have seven of them and we’re just missing one that plays football.”
