After spending their entire histories in Washington D.C. and Maryland, two of the District of Columbia's oldest sports teams may soon be on the move.
Monumental Sports & Entertainment—the group that owns the Wizards and Capitals, as well as the Mystics—has spoken to governmental officials about potentially moving the two teams from Washington D.C. proper to Northern Virginia, according to a Friday evening report from The Washington Post.
"Two people familiar with the talks, including a Monumental official, described them as preliminary and exploratory," the Post reported, noting that Monumental has also been in contact with city officials to potentially fund arena upgrades.
Both teams have called Capital One Arena home since the 1998 season, before which they both played in the Capital Centre in Landover, Md. The aging building is located in Chinatown in downtown Washington D.C.
Northern Virginia, meanwhile, is the new home of Amazon’s second headquarters—a development mentioned by the Post as a factor in the Wizards and Capitals' machinations.
No NBA team has moved to a different state or territory on a full-time basis since the Nets left New Jersey for Brooklyn before the 2013 season, and no NHL team has done that since the Atlanta Thrashers became the Winnipeg Jets beginning in 2012.
