RFK Stadium is literally crumbling around DC United. A hole in the concrete structure threatened to swallow up a fan on Wednesday during the club's match with Kansas City, and the DC Sports Bog has the gory details.
While not surprising, RFK's deterioration only reinforces how desperately DC United needs a stadium of its own. The District has no real impetus for keeping up the ancient (by American multi-use stadium standards) facility, so the club is likely to be facing these kinds of issues for as long as they remain its only tenets.
When events come to a head, and the stadium fails catastrophically, the fallout could be much worse. No one was seriously hurt in the sinkhole incident, but one has to wonder how the city, the league, and the club would react if a fan was sent to the hospital or worse.
Taking one small event like this and extended it to the extreme may seem to be a bit of overkill, but it seems logical to do so; neglected stadiums can become dangerous rapidly, leading to situations that could seriously injure spectators.
DC United's leadership are pursuing stadiums options as we speak. While on local radio ahead of their US Open Cup final clash with Seattle, President Kevin Payne suggested that the club is looking to Virginia and Maryland for a new home. Because the low-profile MLS team is the only tenet of RFK Stadium, and because they are hoping to vacate the premises as soon as is possible, hoping that the District of Columbia government will put money into repairs at RFK beyond patchwork efforts would be ridiculous. Look for more incidents like this the longer United is forced to inhabit a crumbling structure. Cross your fingers that no one get hurt.
This incident, one that illustrates just how terrible RFK Stadium has become, should give us even greater respect for the dedicated United fans that attend matches there. DC has maintained solid attendance over the years despite having one of the worst facilities in the league for the whole of their existence.
Imagine how much better it might be for both the fans and the league if DC United was playing in a proper stadium that doesn't fall out from under people's feet.
*UPDATE* Somehow it slipped my mind that RFK is slated to host a US World Cup qualifier against Costa Rica next month, a laughable situation. Washington, DC and RFK Stadium get qualifiers because the fans show up (for both teams), and the city is the nation's capital. If that tradition is going to continue, US Soccer may have to consider moving games to FedEx Field (which would be terrible).
