July 24, 2013 
After a decade-long search, the light at the end of the tunnel may finally be a new stadium for Major League Soccer’s DC United. According to the Washington Post, team executives, Washington DC mayor Vincent Gray and district officials today approved a preliminary $300 million deal to construct a new 20,000 seat stadium for the team near Nationals Park (home of the Washington Nationals).DC United has played in RFK Stadium since entering the league in 1996. Built in the golden age of multi-purpose stadiums, RFK is ancient by MLS standards. Well aware of RFK’s deficiencies, and with pressure mounting from the MLS who now require teams entering the league to play in modern, soccer-only stadiums, United’s situation was approaching desperate. Today’s stadium news, however, has given United much greater hope for the team’s future.
Rendering of new proposed MLS DC United stadium.
The renderings of the new stadium portray a state-of-the-art stadium rivaling the league’s best. As always with these stadium proposals though, politicians will have their say and hoops will need to be jumped through. This is Washington DC after all.
I’ve always gotten a chuckle watching televised United games at RFK where fans pack together at midfield and use the rickety stands to bounce and chant in unison. Now United fans may get the last laugh in a brand new stadium.
Stadium Crawl 