Maryland's Prince George's County would benefit greatly from becoming the home of a new soccer-specific stadium built for D.C. United, according to a study released Tuesday.

The report, commissioned by a group called the Maryland Stadium Authority, estimates that a roughly 25,000-seat stadium would generate as much as $31 million in earnings through as many as 63 events each year, including 15 D. Click to continue reading...

An excerpt courtesy of the The Washington Post.
And yes we noticed the "feasbility" typo. We left it uncorrected to show that even the big boys at the biggest news organizations make them. [So get off our Back. K.Thx -editors]
Maryland: D.C. United Stadium Would Bring Jobs, Revenue

A new soccer stadium in Prince George's County for D.

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D.C. United Co-Managing Partner Victor MacFarlane has put his San Francisco condo - all 20,000 square feet and two floors of it - up for sale. The price tag is $70 MILLION.

Interested?

To put this into perspective:

• the construction costs of a stadium at Poplar Point would total about $150 million.

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Every few weeks or so, D.C.'s own Soccer Insider, Steven Goff, answers questions about all things soccer.

This space will compile his thoughts on prospects for a new D.C. United stadium. To say that Mr. Goff spends some time around United would be an understatement, so its just obvious that he provides a unique perspective on the stadium issue.

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As one deal appears closer in Houston, another seems to be fading from view in Washington DC.
From Houston we have this video which details where things stand after Thursday's meeting.
And in Washington, DC our source on all things Poplar Point updates us with the following grim news:
Wassup! Click to continue reading...

From today's Fisher chat:

Marc Fisher: That's certainly one view, and likely the majority view in most of the country, though not necessarily here in the District. But the focus now turns to the D.C. Council, a body of 13 elected officials every one of whom supports very strict gun regulations.

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Marc Fisher says that a coalition of green groups are about to enter legal proceedings with local and federal officials to clean Poplar Point and keep it parkland. With the addition of legal proceedings to the already glacial regulatory process that United would have to overcome, it is entirely clear that the odds of a [. Click to continue reading...

Someone should have seen this coming. Wait, someone did. The key graf:

It might be a tempting move to cut a stadium as a gesture to the anti-development side. It wouldn't really change anything, but it allows the city to remove the trojan horse argument of "Don't give away our land to evil sports owners!

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The Washington Business Journal runs a piece on Poplar Point development, which is worth reading by itself, though I am about to quote long pieces of it. The article is a remarkably one-sided story which is still useful for thinking about what's really going on. Let's take a look:

"The debate about whether Poplar Point should include a soccer stadium could take a back seat to whether Poplar Point should be developed at all.

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D.C. United's epic quest for a stadium at Poplar Point continues. The haters are lining up, voicing their opposition in letters to the DC government officials, in the media and on blogs. DCU and MLS fans, you have the will and the numbers to match this and then some. Below are a few things you can do to help get another team out of NFL stadium hell. Click to continue reading...

MD United?

According to an MLSR reader:

Hey, I'm a DC United fan and i just heard this on ABC 7 News here in DC that Economists are going to come together to say that a DC United Stadium in DC wouldnt bring money to the city. This would help Prince George's County in Maryland who really want DC United to move to Maryland.

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Interesting editorial in today's Post. They call for Fenty to step up on the issue.

To date, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty has been a strangely reluctant player, content to let the council lead the way. Mindful of his image as a fierce opponent of public funding for the baseball stadium, Mr.

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The intertubes have been leaking rumors of a proposed announcement soon and today's edition of the post states D.C. Council Crafting Plan to Pay $150 Million for Soccer Stadium.

The city would finance construction bonds with excess tax revenue being collected by the District to pay for the baseball stadium.

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Over the weekend, I caught the Caps playing the Panthers. The Caps final playoff push (2 points behind Carolina) is being well covered on Comcast (tape delaying our season opener) but I have to give Comcast credit for some solid PR adverts for United. Still, the Caps finish the season with three home games.

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The Washington Times has recently run two excellent pieces on the D.C. United Stadium situation. One is on the new stadium development, or lack thereof, but the other is a Tim Lemke blog entry on the lease negotiations regarding RFK. Now, we're all familiar with the stadium situation, so while that's arguable more important, I want to let that pass for now.

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The Editorial Board of the Washington Post comes out with a tentative first discussion of the United Stadium Deal, and on balance I think this should be read encouragingly:

...The costs will have to be carefully analyzed, particularly since there is economic uncertainty. What will be harder to judge are the intangibles.

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This nice little article by David Nakamura of the Washington Post, appeared in the Post today. A few quotes below.

"D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty said yesterday that he would support a public subsidy for a new professional soccer stadium if the team also invested in the project, stating that he opposed spending public money on the Washington Nationals' $611 million ballpark because the deal was too "one-sided.

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When the news about new developments at Poplar Point started coming out earlier this week, I honestly wanted to stay out of it and just keep this blog related to soccer on-the-field only. I swear! But there's been so much confusion by fans in the Insider community that I can no longer resist jumping in to try to clear some things up. Click to continue reading...

The number one topic of conversation today must be the Washington Post's A1 article on Mayor Fenty's pending public support for development of a soccer stadium at Poplar Point. This development is, naturally, being hailed a huge one, even with everyone acknowledging that we are still years away from playing in a home of our own.

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I recently received two e-mails from Bisnow on Business that may be of interest to DC United fans. Bisnow is in its own words, a "People's Magazine for various professional sets in the area." Its commercial real estate e-newsletter recently profiled Victor MacFarlane and his DC real estate ventures. The newsletter had a bunch of interesting factoids about Mr. Click to continue reading...

Two items. Item the First, Logan's Revenge breaks three weeks of radio silence to report that D.C. United is to blame for the Veron deal falling through. Key graf:

According to sources close to Veron, he felt a little smothered by DCU and was not pleased that they had jumped the gun on certain aspects of the proceedings.

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CROWE, MUPIER, NORTH, AND WILLIS OUT: United waives four reservists. All of these were something of longshots to make the team, but this does represent another year in which many draft picks did not pan out for United. To recap: First draft pick Bryan Arguez is Generation Adidas, so there's no downside to keeping him.

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What's hot and what's not in the wide world of futbol. At least from this fan's admittedly warped perspective . . .

(Warning--new format ahead for TvT! Do not stop, do not feed the wildlife, and please--for the love of all that you may or may not hold sacred--don't stare directly into the cesspool of soccer-hatred that is ESPN lest the Beckham-Cam rob you of your life, your humanity, and your everlasting soul!

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My apologies to everyone out there. Right now I'm on business travel, and out of the loop (and the beltway). But, let me address a few things. First, BigKris asks:

Hey, D, you planning to go back and address that redicuolous "this is a rebuilding year" statement you made in the spring?

Yes, yes I am. A lesser blogger would try and weasel his way out of it. Click to continue reading...

Yesterday, United released a letter to Mayor Fenty stating that they've begun talking with other jurisdictions for alternative stadium sites. They maintain they still prefer Poplar Point, but it seems the District's foot dragging, and opening up the land for competitive development has forced the team to consider all options as well.

"However, given the uncertainty around the [request for expressions of interest], the unhurried pace of the negotiations with the federal government on the land transfer, and the fact that our current situation is not financially feasible, we have begun discussions with surrounding jurisdictions about alternative stadium sites," MacFarlane and Payne wrote.

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A SPECIAL THANK YOU: I read each and every comment we get at this site. I may not always respond, simply because I'm really more interested in what you have to say than what I have to say (I've usually already said what I had to). Still, I want to say thanks to each and every comment we've had recently. Your thoughts on what it feels like to fall from the Copa Sudamericana, the excuses we might use, and the debate on the USWNT, have been conducted with intelligence and decorum not usually associated with TEH INTERNETS.

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Comments on the Raw Fisher blogs throughout the ages...

27 November 1858:

Mr. Fisher, you are most correct disparage the trivial demands of the supporters of this so-called Republican Party. America has had a chance to hear their demands from Mr. Fremont; and America, in Her wisdom, has rejected them. They are not a major political party, nor shall they ever become one.

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A few reader emails that I'd like to get to. First, James emailed us to let us know of a grass-roots group has an online petition supporting Poplar Point. Now, the more cynical among us will ask "what good will that do?" Forget that, ask yourself instead "Can do this any harm, and could it possibly do good?" If just one person looks at this and realizes that Poplar Point is not something wanted only by money-craving, poor-people-hating, baby-eating developers, then that's good enough for me.

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Keith W last night sent in a comment alerting us to a new Marc Fisher column. At first, I expected this column would utterly destroy whatever buzz I had from last night's lovely and satisfying win. Something about how Poplar Point should not be developed, and that DC United should find some existing part of town near MLK Ave and Howard Road. Instead, I find him meditating on the DC baseball stadium, and on whether it will create true economic growth for the city.

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Over the weekend, my wife brought a Poplar Point-related letter in the Outlook section of the Post to my attention, and it's a great one. From a Ward 8 resident, the last two paragraphs are incredibly powerful, so I want to quote them here:

Support by the mayor's office for a soccer-specific stadium at Poplar Point would not jeopardize the expansive site's developmental emphasis on residential, retail and parkland.

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A nice segment with Kevin Payne discussing DP's, Poplar Point, and more. Thanks to the DCenters for the heads up. Also, it looks like Bobby Boswell isn't the only one looking to build a web presence. Jamil Walker's new site, barefootballer.com, looks pretty slick. It's fairly light on content for the time being but seems promising. Let's just hope he can get past the disturbingly kinky-sounding name - or is that just me?

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Yes, we're taking a lot of time to discuss the stadium debate. The reason is two-fold: First, a soccer specific stadium is the most important outstanding issue relating to DC United's longterm viability, and the second is that the entire issue of stadiums and pro-sports is an area which has recently become poisonous in civic debate.

It has always been my hope that the stadium proposal and deal would address both concerns.

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Did I see this coming? No. From WUSA Channel 9's Bruce Johnson's Blog:

Former four term DC Mayor Marion Barry is taking on the new popular (he won every precinct) Mayor Adrian Fenty in the fight to develop Poplar Point in Southeast. Barry backs new DC United owner Victor McFarland, the San Francisco developer who thought he had a deal with the previous Tony Williams administration.

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Tickle

• The roller-coaster that is MLS 2007 takes its next series of twists and turns as SuperLiga kicks off and the DP's begin to arrive. With the added impetus of the top 4 overall finishers qualifying for SuperLiga 2008, the regular season has never meant so much in MLS. Exciting stuff!
• Ricardo Clark did some nice stuff in the All-Star game.

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I want to revisit the stadium debate, because I think that there's a lot of stuff people are assuming that may not be factual. I think the impulse is to believe that the stadium negotiations are dead in all but name, but it isn't the case. I've tried to get someone at DC United to go on record with me, but they're declining public comment. However, I was able to learn that things are not as bleak as they look for keeping DC United in DC.

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