If we listed Major League Soccer’s most pressing priorities in the big picture, it wouldn’t take long to land on this one:
Fix the D.C. United stadium mess.
I’m just a little late on this, but don’t let my tardiness diminish the importance of such a potentially promising development.
The Washington Post recently obtained planning documents for the construction of a soccer stadium at Buzzard Point in Southwest Washington. And what a glorious stack of papers that could eventually be.
MLS commissioner Don Garber has repeatedly said that the club’s current situation, as a tenant in the fiscal sinkhole that is RFK Stadium, is unsustainable. Every year he seems to add a little more emphasis to the point. You don’t need a Google translator to know what that means: D.C. United finds a new place to play or, sooner or later, there is no D.C. United.
So the Post has just revealed details that may – MAY – indicate a beachhead finally being established in this long-running drama. United owner Will Chang talked to Post soccer ace Steven Goff last week, checking the boxes on “cautiously optimistic” about it all.
Then, on Sunday, the Post published the preliminary plans.
The club’s protracted, frustrating search for a new facility is a case study in notorious fits, stops and ill-fated starts. So, any optimism must always be rooted in that historical reality.
Here’s the defining piece, co-authored by Goff, on why all this is so important to an MLS club with such a rich legacy.
(UPDATE: Goff dropped more knowledge and insight this afternoon on his Soccer Insider blog.)