D.C. Election

by Irrlicht on Sep 15, 2025 11:21 AM EDT

Not a D.C. resident, and so have followed the D.C. election from a very D.C. United-centric angle. But I don't have a feel for whether Vincent Gray will be a better supporter of the beautiful game in the District. (hard to get much worse than Adrian Fenty) Gray didn't promise anything to DCU fans in the weeks before the election but what is the general take here? Will Gray lead us into the light and away from the raccoons, squirrels and rats of RFK?

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Vincent Gray was smart to avoid the topic in his campaign.

From an article by Dave McKenna of the Washington City Paper:

Challenger Vincent Gray isn’t offering any promises, either. The D.C. Council chairman was asked during a recent "social media" Q&A session what he was doing to keep D.C. United. Gray started out by claiming a "strong desire" to hold on to the team, but literally four seconds into his YouTubed answer, Fenty’s opponent in the upcoming primary appears to realize that he needn’t bother pandering to this bunch.

"Constructing a new stadium… is a very expensive proposition," Gray said. "We’ve been in a recession. We just haven’t had the ability to pay for a stadium or contribute to a stadium because we’ve been investing our money in trying to keep the basic services in the city going."

Gray isn’t necessarily any better or any worse for D.C. United. But at least he didn’t lie about his intentions and use them to get elected.

Managing Editor for BlackAndRedUnited.com. Weekend Writer for SBNation DC.

by Martin Shatzer on Sep 16, 2025 7:45 AM EDT reply actions

Yep. No D.C. mayor is going to help the situation. If you’ve read Soccernomics, you know building a stadium and keeping a pro team isn’t going to boost the D.C. economy at all. From the mayors’ perspective, there’s no benefit to wanting to help build the stadium. We want DCU to stay here, we want a new stadium, but it’s not because it’ll help the city—it’s because it makes us happy.

A Capital Wasteland - art & hockey from Washington, D.C.

by Jake Shapiro on Sep 16, 2025 11:29 AM EDT up reply actions

That's the problem

The benefit of building a stadium and keeping DCU in town is always measured in dollars and cents. Before anybody says well of course it is, hear me out. The primary benefit of having a professional sports franchise within a city is and always has been mostly intangible. It brings social benefits to the city that cannot be measured in dollars and cents. It is this lack of a unifying social benefit that usually leads cities without franchises to desire one. How often does a city lose a team only to then find out how much the team meant to the city and it’s citizens. I realize these are bad economic times but a professional sports franchise is exactly one of the things that gets cities through these times by giving the masses something to unite around and hopefully forget about the bad times around them.

by Croftonpost on Sep 16, 2025 2:57 PM EDT up reply actions

But also on that point (I agree with you), there are 4 major professional sports franchises, one that the public will love no matter what, and 3 others that are on the rise themselves.

We all know DC got raped by funding Nationals Park, and that hurts DC United’s cause even more cause now the City wont want to fund anything.

We need an owner that will put up a helluva lot more money than the current one will be able to. All they need is the city’s cooperation if they’re willing to put up the money, and I’m sure they’d get it.

by DonCaps819 on Sep 16, 2025 10:11 PM EDT up reply actions

billionaires...

Anybody buddy with a billionaire? Granted MLS has already been graced with a pair of them but come on folks, dig deep, any cousins? College roomates with the Facebook dude?

by Irrlicht on Sep 17, 2025 9:14 AM EDT up reply actions