DC United eyes suburbs for new home

MLS D.C. United owner Victor MacFarlane said his mounting frustration with Washington, D.C. city hall bidding process has forced him to look to the suburbs for a new stadium.

United officials have had some first-round negotiations with the mayoral administration in an attempt to build a 27,000-seat stadium at Poplar Point, a 110-acre strip of parkland along the Anacostia River. The club plays at 46-year old RFK Stadium, which has been used, in the past, as an American football and baseball stadium.

But the mayor broke off talks over the summer and opened a competitive bidding process for other proposals on site usage.

The club is not able to meet the economic bidding guidelines set by the city, so will not likely end up in the process. MacFarlane said he has hired the Staubach real estate consulting firm to examine sites in Virginia and Maryland.

"At some point, they do have to say they want us," MacFarlane said. "The biggest problem was that no one was forthright and upfront in saying, 'This is what we're going to do,' so I didn't have to waste time and energy doing something people didn't want done."

Mayoral officials said they do want to find the club a new home in the city.

Source: euFootball.BIZ © Copyright 2006 - All rights reserved.