Half of all NHL teams have already opened up their arenas to some fans. Now, the Washington Capitals may join them.
On Monday, Washington DC mayor Muriel Bowser announced that the district is looking to scuttle some restrictions on businesses. The Washington Post’s Julie Zauzmer reported that included “attendance at professional sports games.”
Monumental Sports & Entertainment is giving sports fans a chance to be at Capitals and Wizards games physically without the danger of literally being there during the coronavirus pandemic.
On Tuesday, Monumental announced that fans can buy cardboard cutouts of themselves which will be placed at Capital One Arena during games.
The price is $75 ($60 for Capital One cardholders) and a “portion of the proceeds will benefit MSE Foundation.” The cutouts can be purchased here.
The Washington Capitals messaged their season-ticket holder base on Tuesday morning. The Capitals addressed the uncertainty of the 2020-21 season which is expected to begin on January 13 and feature a 56-game schedule.
According to the team, fans will not be allowed into the building at the beginning of the season due to the worsening coronavirus pandemic, but the team holds out hope they will be able to open up Capital One Arena at some point later in the year.
Twenty-three years ago to the day, the Washington Capitals officially left USAir Arena in Landover, Maryland, and played their first game at the MCI Center in Washington DC. Vice-president Al Gore and his wife Tipper were among the 19,740 in attendance.
The Capitals defeated the Florida Panthers 3-2 on December 5, 1997, after bottom-six forward Jeff Toms scored unassisted in overtime. The game marked Toms’ sixth with the Caps since being claimed that November from the Tampa Bay Lightning.
“We got a bounce at the blueline and then I used my speed to beat Laus,” Toms said to a much-younger Mike Vogel after the game. “Being picked up by Washington is the best thing that’s ever happened in my career.”
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.
In September, Ted Leonsis’s Monumental Sports and Entertainment announced that Capital One Arena would be a polling place for the November election. The move was one of several Leonsis and his sports teams made after being inspired by the Black Lives Matter protests against police brutality and systemic racism over the summer.
“We as an organization understand that systemic racism is a problem that is hundreds of years old, and that the solution will require even longer-term action,” Leonsis wrote on his blog, Ted’s Take. “This is not a time for empty promises. We expect to be held accountable. We have a series of meetings on what to do next, and I will report back to our players and our employees on what we’re learning, and more importantly, what we will do.”
Early voting in the District begins on Tuesday and now, via WAMU’s Martin Austermuhle, we know what DC residents will receive if they cast their ballot at Capital One Arena.
Stickers!
DC residents will be getting a large new polling place this fall.
Capital One Arena announced on Thursday morning that it will be open for DC residents to vote for the 2020 presidential election. Not only will the arena be open on Election Day (Tuesday, November 3, 2020, from 7 AM to 8 PM) but it will also be available for Early Voting from Tuesday, October 27, through Monday, November 2, from 8:30 AM to 7 PM.
By Ian Oland 3 years ago
Capital One Arena now has some beautiful and inspiring artwork on its facade.
Four days after Black Lives Matter was painted on 16th Street leading up to the White House, a sports-themed mural was painted a few blocks away on the side of Capital One Arena. The painting on wooden boards features the words Black Lives Matter with Black athletes playing hockey and basketball.
The Capital One Arena Twitter account published four photos with the caption, “We love celebrating beautiful art – inside the building and outside. We stand with you.”
Capital One Arena was one of many famous stadiums and landmarks across the world that lit up blue Thursday, April 9, to thank health care professionals, first responders, and essential workers during the coronavirus pandemic.
“Tonight we #LightItBlue as a universal symbol of solidarity and hope,” a Capital One Arena tweet read.”The @MSE Family thanks you for keeping our community safe.”
Saturday, April 4, 2020, should have marked the Washington Capitals’ final game of the regular season. The Capitals were supposed to tangle with the Florida Panthers in Sunrise. Instead, a worldwide outbreak of COVID-19 suspended the NHL season on March 12 with no end in sight. Since then, almost every state in the United States has ordered a shelter in place order.
Capitals Radio’s Ben Raby drove downtown and captured photos of what a ghost town Washington DC, has become.
It’s haunting.
