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Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena

Florian Buechting Sports Reviews No Comments

Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena

Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena
4.5

Rating

 4.5/5

Flyctory.com Pros

  • Very nice and convenient location
  • Rather modern feeling in the arena
  • Good range of food available
  • Good public transport options

Flyctory.com Cons

  • High ticket prices
  • Social structure at the nearby metro station

The last of three ice hockey matches with the Pittsburgh Penguins I saw in April 2024 was in Washington D.C.. It was in fact the second time I saw a home match of the Washington Capitals at their Capital One Arena. However, my debut in this venue has been rather long ago, featuring a match against the Edmonton Oilers. Here are my thoughts about the arena and the settings of the match.

 

Capital One Arena – Location & Traffic

The arena is located in the heart of the US-American capital, right in the heart of Chinatown. Key attractions like the White House and the National Mall are just a short walk away. I stayed at the Motto by Hilton Washington DC City Center, which also lead to a short walk. However, as I stated in the hotel review already, the social situation is a bit of weird nowadays. There are some drug addicts and homeless in that part of Washington.

The traffic situation is really nice as three metro lines (green, red and yellow) are served from the Gallery Pl-Chinatown station, which is just a few steps around. As in all US-American cities, parking is available, but I would try to avoid going to this area by car. The public transport is just too efficient in this place.

 

Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena – Arena & Ticket Situation

Capital One Arena is not only home of the Capitals, but also the home arena of the Washington Wizards and Georgetown Hoyas (both basketball). For ice hockey, the capacity is 18,573. It hosts some 1,500 additional people for basketball matches. You also have some nice displays of these teams in the aisles of the area, which can be reached through gates on all sides. Even though the area (formerly MCI Center and Verizon Center) has been opened in 1997, it feels rather modern. The aisles are comparably wide. However, it does not compare to the very latest ice hockey stadiums in the USA like T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas  The large jumbotron is really cool and gives a lot of information.

I typically buy tickets before the season. It is rather reasonable to get tickets for the matches. My seat was very unfortunate, next to a high wall, which I did not recognize at booking. Luckily, the seat next to me was free, otherwise it would have been really painful to sit there – despite the seat itself was rater comfy – the legroom and armrest area was rather limited. Ticket prices are rather high, but much more convenient than for example ticket fees at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.

 

Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena – Atmosphere

The locals love their Capitals. The atmosphere does not compare to the top places in the NHL, but it is close. People start cheering for their team, even without being motivated to do so by the speaker, screen or organist.

 

Capital One Arena – Food & Shopping

There are a couple of spots to stock up your merchandise collection of the Washington Capitals. The range of food offered at Capital One Arena is overall really nice. I went for Asian-style potatoes, which was likely a really bad choice – other options finally looked much more promising.

 

Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena – My View

Capital One Arena is a good place in an excellent locations. The social structure around the Metro Station is a bit of scary, but apart from that, it is a good place for having an enjoyable ice hockey match. You have to deal with the high ticket prices, though. Therefor, the public transport connection is ideal, which makes it very handy to combine some ice-hopping with the (a lot of them are free) Washington sights.

 

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