A block of F Street NW between 6th and 7th Street NW outside the arena was declared Fun Street, complete with signage. Clinton toured the gallery before the game, playing the museum games. The arena had a 25,000 square foot Discovery Channel Store from 1998 to 2001 and the MCI National Sports Gallery, an interactive sports museum with interactive games, memorabilia, and the American Sportscasters Hall of Fame inside from 1998 to 2000 or 2001 which was repurposed for office space. On December 2, 1997, the arena held its first event, a game between the Wizards and the Seattle SuperSonics, with President Bill Clinton in attendance. The groundbreaking ceremony for the project was held in October 1995. Ī naming rights deal was struck with MCI Communications to name the arena as the MCI Center. The District leased the land to Pollin at a below-market rate of $300,000 per year. The District would pay for other costs, including purchasing the portion of the land it did not already own, preparing the site, and expanding the Metro station these eventually amounted to $79 million (US$124 million in 2021 dollars ). With the arena deal facing criticism amid the District's budget crisis, Pollin eventually agreed to privately fund the construction of the building, which ultimately came to $200 million (US$330 million in 2021 dollars ). However, a competing proposal soon emerged, when Robert Johnson, head of Black Entertainment Television, offered to build the arena with mostly private financing. Council approved a special tax on businesses to finance the deal. The arena in 2006, then known as MCI Center.Ī group of Washington business leaders brokered a deal between Pollin and the District government to build an arena at the Gallery Place site, with the District paying for the $150-million project, which was envisioned to have shopping, food, and exhibitors for daily use even when there was no arena event. In December 1993, Abe Pollin, the owner of both teams, began studying options to move the teams to a new arena to be built with public financing, with possible locations including Baltimore, downtown Washington, and Laurel, Maryland. The teams experienced subpar attendance because the location was inconvenient for both Washington and Baltimore residents, and their arena, though only 20 years old, was not up to the standards of other NBA and NHL venues.

īefore the arena's opening, the Capitals and the Wizards (then known as the Washington Bullets) played at USAir Arena in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland. The project languished for many years but never materialized, and was finally canceled in 1992. Most of the remaining buildings on the site were demolished in 1985. Capital Landmark Associates was selected in 1979 to develop the site with a planned mixed-use complex including retail, offices, apartments, and a hotel. In 1973, while the Gallery Place Metro station was being developed below it, the District government bought the land in hopes of redeveloping it. By the 1960s, it was suffering from urban decay, like much of the eastern end of Downtown Washington. The block where the arena was built, between 6th and 7th and F and G Streets, historically held a mix of residences and small businesses. It was also home to the Washington Mystics of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) from 1998 to 2018, after which they moved to the Entertainment and Sports Arena in southeast Washington for the 2019 season. Owned and operated by Monumental Sports & Entertainment, it is the home arena of the Washington Capitals of the National Hockey League (NHL), the Washington Wizards of the National Basketball Association (NBA), and the Georgetown University men's basketball team. Like many storefront signs in Chinatown, a part of the arena's large sign is written in Chinese characters, right below the English name of the sponsor. It has been largely considered to be a commercial success and is regarded as one of the driving catalysts of the revitalization of Washington, D.C.'s Chinatown neighborhood.

Located in the Penn Quarter neighborhood, the arena sits atop the Gallery Place rapid transit station of the Washington Metro. Washington Capitals ( NHL) (1997–present)Ĭapital One Arena is an indoor arena in Washington, D.C. John Stranix and Seagull Bay Sports, LLC Location within the United States Show map of the United States

Capital one arena