Garber: Priority now is a better lease at RFK MLS commissioner Don Garber offered his frustrations over D.C. United’s inability to secure a stadium of its own Thursday, suggesting the team could be relocated outside of the Baltimore-Washington area even though the current priority is to better terms at RFK Stadium.
“If they can’t get a new and improved lease in D.C. and they’ve got to move to another facility in the region, I will be supportive of that and, in fact, will help them do that,” Garber said during his annual state-of-the-league remarks on a conference call with reporters. “If it means they can’t find a solution in Baltimore, then we’ll have to go through a process as we did with San Jose [which relocated to Houston in 2006] to think about potentially moving the team.”
Asked whether the onus was on the team to add to investors, giving United the financial muscle to finance and build a stadium without public assistance, Garber blamed the District for previous failed attempts to reach a stadium deal.
“That’s not at all, because the owner [Will Chang] isn’t capable of doing it,” Garber said. “Our challenge is we have started and stopped a half a dozen times over the last number of years, and at this point it’s very clear to me there is some traffic jam taking place in your city that probably rivals some of the other traffic jams that take place in your city. It’s been frustrating to get a green light on any road whatsoever that will lead us down a path to have a stadium.”
“We value DC United & hope they stay in DC,” D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray tweeted last week. “But District is in a challenging fiscal environment now & publicly funded stadium not possible.”
While MLS recently sent out a survey to Baltimore soccer fans to gauge interest, The Washington Examiner first reported that D.C. United was seeking to rework the game-to-game lease it has had in place at RFK since 2008.
“All I know is that part one of this project is not asking the mayor to give us money to build a stadium in D.C.,” Garber said. “The first part is to try to renew a lease in RFK that makes economic sense for a soccer team that is delivering great value and employing lots and lots of people and has been a good member of the community.”
