Keep United in DC march, May 2009
Pinning down just where Major League Soccer and DC United's ownership is on the frustration scale when it comes to finding a stadium deal for the club has always been difficult. Though the team (through team president Kevin Payne) continues to say they are exploring options in the DC Metro, there have been few specifics and almost no reason for hope.
And there's your problem.
The DC United fan base cannot be comfortable. RFK has been a serviceable home for the team, in part because United's supporters have made it so through their own efforts, but character doesn't pay the bills; Will Chang bought out Victor MacFarlane's share of the operating rights, seems committed to the club and the fans, but cannot expect to eat the cost of running the club with no return forever. This isn't about United being just a little in the red, it's about millions of dollars going out the door because RFK is such a drain on the bottom line.
Chang wants new investors for United, and would likely have little trouble finding them if a new stadium was on the horizon. But without a deal, one has to wonder how hard it will be to find funds, money that might be necessary to bolster the teams ability to contribute to stadium costs. Chang has made it clear he's open to a functional stadium without the mixed-use developmental aspects that seemed to drive MacFarlane; that would require significant investment (see Houston's 75/25 split on their deal), something Chang's position probably doesn't allow.
Garber sounded clearly frustrated in yesterday's conference call. He ripped local government for "backslaps and faux press conferences" and identified their inability to "get out of their own way". He stopped short of commenting on relocating the club, though he's already on record about the possibility. While Kevin Payne continues to evade any real discussion of who the organization is talking to, United fans twist in the wind; how can you give yourself full to a club when they may not be here in a few years?
Even worse that Baltimore appears serious about making a run at luring away United. Perhaps Payne is avoiding specifics because the only locality serious about a stadium is 40 miles up I-95; if that gets out, the fan reaction would be devastating.
The one thing we can count on is that United staying put as long as there's no ready-made deal in Baltimore or elsewhere. The league isn't going to go through the Houston experience again, but with Baltimore studying the prospect of a building a soccer stadium, they're already well ahead of the game. The timeline is getting shorter with every passing month, and though United has assured fans that something would be happening in 2010, it's not good that the future will be more of the focus, again, than the present. Sure, United's passionate support want to see the team back in the playoffs and playing good soccer; but they also want to hear that they're not showing up and cheering for a lost cause.
No one wants to be be backing the lame duck.
Is United definitely headed for Baltimore? I don't know, but I think the possibility is very real and much closer to happening than most would like to think. Still, there's much that needs to happen in Charm City for United's relocation to make any sense, and there's always a chance the club can convince a suburban locality to go in on a facility; but we've heard nothing since the Prince George's County deal fell through, and with legitimate business questions surrounding the wisdom of going too far from the city center, one wonders if the lesser of two evils for Chang and United isn't to head north.
DC Area Counties - with Loudoun misspelled (I didn't make the map)
I don't know where the breaking point is for the club or the league, but Garber's comments lead me to believe that it's just around the corner in relative terms. United's relocation won't be taken lightly, even if it is only to Baltimore. But DC's history with the team only means so much for a league that cannot afford to have one of its leading lights historically withering on the financial vine because of a dilapidated stadium and no area prospects.
I'm crossing my fingers and toes that there's a super-secret deal in the works, that United is destined to land in a DMV locale not too far from their fan base, and the it will be 2010 when the news finally gets good.
