D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser "isn't accepting the Washington Mystics as a consolation prize at Capital One Arena” if the Wizards and Capitals move to Alexandria and a new arena at Potomac Yard, according to Tristan Navera of the WASHINGTON BUSINESS JOURNAL. Bowser on Tuesday “rejected the idea of playing ball" with Monumental Sports & Entertainment to "try to keep the arena standing without its two major tenants.” Bowser said D.C. has not “closed the door on Monumental" and "having half-a-billon dollars on the table indicates how wide the door is open.” But Bowser said that “some kind of arrangement where Monumental uses both Capital One and its new Virginia arena ‘just doesn't make sense.’" MSE founder & CEO Ted Leonsis has said that the proposal to move the Mystics to Capital One Arena is due to the team having “outgrown the 4,111-seat” Entertainment & Sports Arena and that MSE was “confident that in working with the city, Capital One Arena can remain a vibrant part of the fabric of downtown Washington, D.C., for years to come." However, Bowser has “resisted moving the Mystics.” Bowser: “This market can support only so many special events, and D.C. residents will not accept premier events going to the new location [in Alexandria] and the nonpremiere events remaining [at Capital One Arena], what it would render the facility is underutilized.” Bowser has said that if the teams leave, the $500M “would be put into finding new uses for the land, including a full redevelopment” (WASHINGTON BUSINESS JOURNAL, 1/30).
