Will The Capitals And Wizards Say Goodbye to Washington DC?

It's been an eventful week for Washington D.C. sports after it was announced that Qatar's sovereign wealth fund would purchase a stake in the parent company of the Wizards, Capitals and Mystics as part of a massive multi-billion dollar deal.

But now the question is - will the Washington teams actually play in D.C. long term?

Monumental Sports & Entertainment - the primary owner of the three sports franchises has reportedly been in conversations with governmental officials about possibly moving the teams out of DC to Northern Virginia. The Washington Post reports that "two people familiar with the talks, including a Monumental official, described them as preliminary and exploratory."

Although talks are only preliminary, the Post said that there were also discussions about possibly upgrading their current arenas and staying in D.C.

The Capitals and Wizards have called Capital One Arena their home since both franchises moved there in 1998. Despite having success there - especially with the Capitals in 2 Eastern Conference Championships and a Stanley Cup Championship in 2018, the arena is in dire need of refurbishing.

Northern Virginia would make sense for the teams simply from a financial aspect. Amazon recently built their second headquarters there and money is flowing in around the area - something that all the sports teams could benefit from as well.

Meanwhile the Qatari 5% acquisition comes just weeks after Saudi Arabia's LIV Golf made a partnership with the PGA Tour.