Tuesday marks the 20th anniversary of the first Washington Capitals game at the Verizon Center. The following is an excerpt of WTOP sports anchor Ben Raby’s book, “100 Things Capitals Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die” about the lead-up to that first game.
When Abe Pollin first unveiled plans for the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland, in 1972, the real estate mogul presented a futuristic facility complete with skyboxes and the world’s first scoreboard capable of showing instant replays.
By the 1990s, though, the home of the Capitals and the Washington Bullets had grown obsolete. Across both the NBA and NHL, teams were upgrading their home facilities with even more luxury suites and amenities.
If the NHL’s Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks and Montreal Canadiens could move from their historic home arenas — as all three did in the mid-1990s — surely the Capitals could relocate from their suddenly outdated home.
In the summer of 1995, Pollin announced his intent to privately finance a $200 million facility that would house both the Capitals and the Bullets, who would be rebranded as the Wizards in the new building.
This meant that after playing all of their prior home games in the state of Maryland, the Washington Capitals would at long last play within the city’s limits. Pollin wanted his new arena built in an otherwise desolate part of downtown at Seventh and F streets NW.
Construction took 25 months, and it wasn’t without its challenges, with the discovery of contaminated soil and asbestos among the early obstacles. There was also a successful lawsuit from the Paralyzed Veterans of America to increase the number of seats for wheelchair-bound spectators.
Through it all, Pollin remained confident that his life’s work had prepared him for the biggest business venture of his career.
Washington-based MCI Communications Corp. helped ease some of Pollin’s financial burden, agreeing to a $44 million, 13-year deal for arena naming rights.
“I walk through that building [and] I get tears in my eyes,” Pollin told The Washington Post days before the MCI Center opened in 1997. “It’s unbelievable. I’ve got everything I’ve ever done in my life on the line. I’ve pledged everything. My advisors think I’m nuts. But I wanted to do something special for my town.”
Pollin was born in Philadelphia but moved to Washington with his family when he was 8. He graduated from George Washington University in 1945 and became a D.C. lifer in the historically transient region. But for all the pride Pollin held for his hometown, he was also well aware of its diminishing reputation.
Despite Metro accessibility and the proximity to the Capitol Dome and National Mall, venturing downtown for a social night on the town, for example, didn’t appeal to locals during the 1980s and early 1990s. Crime was rampant, and by 1989, Washington held the dubious title as the murder capital of the United States.
“When we played at the Caps Centre way out on the Beltway,” said one-time Capitals captain Ryan Walter, “we’d practice around the city and in Fort DuPont and different places, but downtown was pretty scary in those days. We were specifically told not to go downtown.”
By the mid-1990s, Pollin wanted to change that. The arena would stand in the Penn Quarter neighborhood of Chinatown, but offered little in the form of nearby restaurants or entertainment when ground was broken in October 1995. Pollin, though, had dreams of a revitalized downtown with his arena as the centerpiece.
“Mr. Pollin always had the vision for Washington,” said former Capitals general manager David Poile. “His background was in building and in real estate and he saw this. I remember coming downtown to the area where they were talking about putting the building and at that time I couldn’t see it all. I couldn’t see how it was going to work out and how it was going to be a destination place.”
Ultimately, it would in fact turn into a $6.8 billion redevelopment project with restaurants, condominiums and businesses now lining the once-vacant lots.
On Dec. 3, 2007, Pollin celebrated his 84th birthday, with Mayor Adrian M. Fenty unveiling F Street between 6th and 7th streets NW as “Abe Pollin Way.”
“When you look at it years later, it’s fabulous down there,” Poile told the Capitals Radio Network in 2009. “It is exactly what someone with a vision, someone who could see these things, would think of. That was his vision.”
Two years after the MCI Center first opened its doors, the D.C. Council unanimously approved a $46 million financing package that went toward construction of a $195 million entertainment, retail and housing complex atop the Gallery Place Metro station, next to the arena.
Today the complex is home to such establishments as Regal Cinema, Lucky Strike, Bar Louie and Clyde’s of Gallery Place, all of which have become popular pregame or postgame destinations.
“Now, it’s just so beautiful,” Walter said. “To be able to walk through Chinatown and [Capital One Arena] is just spectacular.”
“I have tremendous respect for the man and for what he did for Washington and what he did in terms of building the MCI Center and what it did for the area,” said Kelly Miller, who played for the Capitals in 1997-98, when they moved downtown midseason.
“It’s cool to go back now and see that area and see how it’s grown and developed around that rink. When they first built that rink, there wasn’t a whole lot going on down there. But to see now how it’s gone up and what a wonderful area it’s become around the rink, that’s a credit to Mr. Pollin and his vision and the contributions that he made to the Washington, D.C. area and to redeveloping that entire area.”
The MCI Center opened its doors on Dec. 2, 1997, with the Wizards hosting the Seattle SuperSonics — the same opponent the Bullets played to open the Capital Centre in 1973. The Wizards christened the new building with a 95-78 win before a capacity crowd of 20,674 fans.
Three nights later, the Capitals won their first home game in the District, beating the Florida Panthers 3-2 in overtime on Dec. 5, 1997. Richard Zednik and Chris Simon scored for the Capitals in regulation, with Jeff Toms beating Florida’s John Vanbiesbrouck for the game-winning goal in the extra session.
Toms scored five goals over parts of three seasons with the Capitals but the overtime winner in the MCI Center opener tops the list.
“I remember [Panthers defenseman] Paul Laus was trying to get the puck by me, and I blocked it,” Toms recalled in 2017. “Then I went down and just tried to get Vanbiesbrouck to give me a little bit of the five-hole and put it home.
“It was just such a big game. There was a lot of excitement and there was a lot of emotion; there was a lot of energy in the building.”
There was also a sellout crowd, including 42 former Capitals players and then-Vice President Al Gore.
“It was a really exciting night,” Toms said. “And it was good to get a win that first game. That was important for us. I remember the energy, how excited the fans were and even the organization and the owners, it was just a great night of hockey.”
