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Washington Wizards announce first sporting event at Capital One Arena since pandemic began in March

By Ian Oland

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November 28, 2020 12:46 pm

The coronavirus pandemic put America in quarantine and upended the sports world in mid-March. The NBA suspended its season on March 11 and the NHL followed suit a day later.

But now, for the first time in 282 days, a sporting event is returning to Capital One Arena. On Friday, the Washington Wizards announced it would be playing a preseason game with no fans against the Detroit Pistons on Thursday, December 17. The two teams will match up again two days later before the regular season starts.

The exhibition will be the first game at Capital One Arena since a Wizards-Knicks game on March 10, which Washington won 122-115. The Washington Capitals played its final game at COA on March 4 against the Philadelphia Flyers. The Caps lost 5-2.

While the NHL still tries to plot its way forward, the NBA is moving full speed ahead on its 2020-21 season and will not be returning to its Orlando bubble. Teams will be hosting games at their own arenas. The tip-off is December 22 and each NBA franchise will play 72 games. Only four teams thus far will be allowed to have some fans at games: the Oklahoma City Thunder, Atlanta Hawks, Utah Jazz, and Memphis Grizzlies.

While Capital One Arena hasn’t hosted a game in nearly a year, it has served as a polling place for the November presidential election and a workplace for John Walton as the play-by-play announcer called Capitals’ playoff games from the Toronto bubble on location.

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