Last April I posted on the possibility of DC United moving to Baltimore. Looks like rumors are heating up again. According to an article by The Washington Post, the MLS commissioned a survey in Baltimore to gauge interest in a soccer team through "expansion or relocation."

The state of Maryland, city of Baltimore and Maryland Stadium Authority have approached United about moving into a proposed venue in Westport, which is near Oriole Park at Camden Yards and M&T Bank Stadium. The plan is still in the very early stages.

However, “we’ve been saying this could happen,” United President Kevin Payne told the Insider. “This isn’t a game. This is serious. This isn’t a bluff. Part of it is trying to understand what that means for our business.

“From our point of view, it’s just due diligence. You have to understand your options. We’re trying to understand the depth of interest in Baltimore.”

United has spent all 16 MLS seasons in Washington but club officials have said playing at 50-year-old RFK is not economically viable. Talks with D.C. officials have shown no signs of progress. Buzzard Point in Southwest D.C., near Nationals Park, has been the club’s primary focus. Previous negotiations, involving Poplar Point in Anacostia and then Prince George’s County in Maryland, collapsed.
The thread from last april has some more links and a lot of good discussion on the feasibility of United coming to Baltimore and the future of soccer in the US.



I for one would love to see this happen. I played soccer and would love to follow a team, but I've never been able to follow teams outside of Baltimore. Obviously Kevin Payne (United's owner) probably hopes that the threat of moving to Baltimore will get him a new stadium in the greater DC area, but I hope he's really willing to move to Baltimore if this doesn't happen.