United state intentions to leave city

United seek a new home in Prince George's County.

"We can't rewind the clock. We're coming to Prince George's County."

With that, DC United co-Executive Chairman Victor B. MacFarlane emphatically closed Monday's press conference with team, county, and state officials during which the club stated its intentions to leave Washington, D.C., and move to Prince George's County, Md. If ground is broken on a new 24,000-seat urban stadium this year, the club believes the new facility could host matches at the start of the 2012 season, or possibly the last part of the 2011 campaign.

MacFarlane was flanked at the press conference by team President Kevin Payne and PG County Executive Jack Johnson. Also attending were Maryland lawmakers Senator Anthony Muse and Delegate Melony Griffith. They have co-sponsored legislation in the Maryland General Assembly to support the project. MacFarlane, meanwhile, is working with community and local political leaders to choose the best of seven possible sites in the county for the stadium. MacFarlane said Monday he hopes to have the site selection process completed within 30 days.

"At the end of the day," MacFarlane said, "we want to make sure we're wanted where we go."

The move would be a true upheaval for Major League Soccer's most successful club. It was stated during the press conference that the stadium, practice facility, and team headquarters would all relocate to Prince George's County. United has a two-year lease at its current home, RFK Stadium. The team practices on auxillary fields next to the stadium.

The money required to pay for the stadium is expected to come from tax revenue generated by the stadium itself, as well as from stadium rent, from which the club will pay for one-quarter of the stadium, MacFarlane said. There were many questions posed by reporters about who is responsible for the costs should the stadium fail to generate revenue - an unlikely and somewhat absurd prospect given the facility is expected to host up to 40 concerts and cultural events per year, in addition to 20+ soccer games, and given United's average attendance of 20,401 the past two seasons. Both team and county officials reiterated often that no existing tax dollars would be used to fund the project, and the financial considerations taken into account in developing the project and legislation were very much on the conservative side.

"This is a project that will not require additional tax dollars," State Sen. Muse said. "We are not doing this at the expense of education or public safety. It's built with private investment and new resources generated by the Stadium Authority."

County Executive Johnson said that estimates indicate the project will create about 2,500 jobs in the county - a key factor for a place where he later stated some 600,000 residents leave the county to go to work each day, resulting in some of the worst traffic congestion in the country. County officials also welcomed United's planned move, citing the club's long history of work in the community and how the team's presence may open up new opportunities for county youth.

The proposed move does leave a question over what will happen to United's fan base. Payne stated during the press conference that the most significant portion of the club's ticket base is in Northern Virginia. Getting from there to Prince George's County, especially on a weeknight, is a tricky proposition at best. Five of the seven sites under consideration would be Metro accessible. This figures to be a necessity, since MacFarlane doesn't envision the stadium being surrounded by a sea of parking, as he put it. It will instead be a multi-use area with other entities that, if all goes well, will help revitalize the area economically and turn it into a viable destination. There is also the possibility that whatever of the Northern Virginia fan base is lost could be rediscovered in the stadium's backyard, with an increased fan base in Prince George's and surrounding counties.

"We may have to change our fan base a bit. We may have more fans from Prince George's, Anne Arundel, and maybe Howard counties, and maybe Baltimore. And there might be fewer from places like Loudoun County," said Payne, adding people from every state in the nation bought United tickets last year. "But our fans are very, very loyal. We expect fans to come with us."

The Maryland General Assembly is currently in session, and will be through April 13. Officials on all sides are surely hopeful this legislation is approved quickly, but hoping for quick things in a political process (especially during tough times) is often risky. That, and the site selection, will be the next steps. But even then, the site selection could meet with some opposition, or other hidden factors could delay proceedings.

But for now, as MacFarlane so clearly stated, United is coming to Prince George's County.

EDIT TO UPDATE: You can watch the press conference here via the DC United web site.