JUNKIES: DC Mayor Muriel Bowser lays out how the MSE-DC deal came to be

Ted Leonsis during Wednesday’s press conference announcing the DC’s $515 million pledge to Monumental Sports & Entertainment for Capital One Arena refurbishments that he and Mayor Muriel Bowser had weekly ‘dates’ to discuss the future vision of the city – and indeed, when The Junks got the Mayor’s words herself on how the deal came to be to keep the Caps and Wiz in the District, it was a lesson in never giving up and always striving for better.

“We never stopped talking to Monumental, never stopped negotiating and making our deal an even better deal,” the Mayor said. “So I would say that the commencement of the signing that we celebrated last night probably started two weeks after their announcement and about Virginia. We never gave up on keeping our teams, we focused on making our deal better, and that's the result.”

The Mayor is ‘bullish’ about DC and knows sports fans here are loyal, and admitted the Alexandria deal neve made sense to her in many ways – but she kept figuring out ways to make what Leonsis seemingly didn’t want, the status quo, better.

“I know that we have built a sports infrastructure here and I've been involved in big economic development and sports projects, so I kind of know the anatomy of them and the politics of them,” she said. “I thought that the Virginia deal, from what I read, always seemed a little shaky to me financially, and their approach wasn't good. Having said all of that, I thought the end product just would not be as interesting as a new Capital One Arena in downtown Washington, and what we have now is the opportunity to create an iconic space in the nation's capital that not only best serves the team, but that serves the entire region.”

There were never any hard feelings despite what Leonsis called ‘difficult conversations,’ only a stronger resolve to work hard to keep MSE in town.

“I represent 700,000 people and a downtown that needs its destination; it needs its major anchor and it needs it to be improved, and that's why we've been willing to be partners in the construction of a new Capital One Arena,” the Mayor said. “I try to stay even-keeled so that I can do my work, and that's what we did. We set out to keep our teams and to really demonstrate that Monumental is an important company in the district, and they can be a key part of the next iteration of Chinatown.”

That last part also apparently included thoughts of Chinatown post-MSE exit, even if no on in DC wanted that, because ‘we kept working to give our people what they want and what the district needs.’

What that includes is increased safety measures, including two more public safety hubs coming after a first opened in Chinatown, among other things.

“We have always concentrated on Chinatown and the safety of our residents and guests coming there. Last year was a difficult year for us in that regard, but there was not an outsized problem in Chinatown,” Bowser said. “But here's what's most important: we're driving crime down this year. We're 30 percent down in some of our most difficult crimes having to do with guns, our robbery numbers are down double digits as well, and we are improving the infrastructure there, making sure we have a public safety infrastructure environment that works for the district.”

So then, there was one last big question left: what does, or could, this mean for the possibility of the Commanders returning to DC, whether at RFK or elsewhere?

“The two have never been related. I have been working on securing the land at RFK since I became Mayor in 2015, and it is important for the district to control its own destiny and to have control of that underutilized land,” she said. “It is on the Anacostia River and it has served us as a sports center for decades, and so that's our focus. We're gonna get control of the land, and it's no secret to anybody that I think DC teams should play in DC.”

Listen to Mayor Bowser's entire segment with the Junkies in the media player above!