As businesses flee Washington, D.C., due to rising crime, Democrats have fought back against plans for two of its professional sports teams to leave D.C. for Virginia.
Mayor Muriel Bowser (D-D.C.) has pushed for the NBA’s Washington Wizards and the NHL’s Washington Capitals to stay in the city after Monumental Sports and Entertainment, the organization that owns both teams, announced plans last year to move the franchises to Virginia. The move has been promoted by Governor Glenn Youngkin (R-VA) who wants to help finance the move, but some Democrats in the Virginia state Senate are attempting to kill the measure.
Both teams play at the Capital One Arena, an area that has not been immune to rising crime in recent years. Ted Leonsis, the CEO of Monumental Sports, has reportedly been concerned about crime in the area for months and said moving to Virginia is a wise business decision.
According to police data, there were 168 more incidents of crime in the area within 1,000 feet of the arena in the last two years compared to the two previous years. This included seven sex abuse crimes, 15 assaults with a dangerous weapon, 51 robberies, 136 thefts from cars, 64 stolen cars, and a homicide. The data show that…
