National Urban League & Greater Washington Urban League Urge NBA to Keep Wizards in D.C.

NEW YORK and WASHINGTON, D.C. (December 19, 2023) -- Relocating the Washington Wizards NBA franchise to Northern Virginia would be "inconsistent with the history, commitments, and future of the National Basketball Association," Urban League Leaders say.

In a letter to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, National Urban League President and CEO Marc H. Morial and Greater Washington Urban League President and CEO George H. Lambert, Jr., wrote, "The notion that franchise relocations should simply become a bidding war between cities or states is abhorrent to the idea that there is a single professional basketball league in the United States. It is material that community support and what a team truly means to the essence of a community are far more important factors than whether there is a 'better financial arrangement' in another city that can be secured by a franchise owner."

The leaders outlined three major reasons the franchise should remain in the District of Columbia: substantial support from the city, including a proposed $500 million investment in the Capital One Arena; the role the team has played in the economic revival, transformation and comeback of downtown Washington, and the value of city's symbolic status as "the rhythm and the pulse" of the nation.

"We believe ripping the Wizards away from Downtown DC not only would cause economic harm, it would erode fan trust," Morial and Lambert wrote.