District E Powered by Ticketmaster, a new multi-purpose live events venue owned by Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), has officially opened its doors.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on Friday for the venue, which is located next to Capital One Arena, home of the NHL’s Washington Capitals and the NBA’s Washington Wizards.
District E spans nearly 14,000 square feet and has been designed to serve as a hub for esports and entertainment. It has already secured hosting rights to esports events organised by the NBA and NHL.
Speakers at the ribbon-cutting ceremony included Zach Leonsis, MSE’s president of media and new enterprises; Jordan Silberman, executive vice-president and general manager of Capital One Arena; Liz Noe, vice-president of operations for Aramark Sports + Entertainment; Melissa Dueñas, senior vice-president and chief communications and marketing officer at engineering company Leidos; and Brendan Donohue, president of the NBA 2K League.
Plans for the facility were first announced in January 2022, with work taking just over a year to complete. District E also includes a new bar and restaurant concept, District Bites, which has been developed in partnership with Aramark.
The venue will host pre- and post-event activations for fans attending Capitals and Wizards games, while it will also serve as a competition and training base for MSE-owned esports teams Wizards District Gaming and Caps Gaming. District E, which has been open to external bookings since January, will also establish an East Coast office for esports organisation Team Liquid.
Leonsis said: “As we thought about what we wanted to be as an organisation coming out of the pandemic, we knew we wanted Monumental Sports to be digitally focused and technology centric. District E Powered by Ticketmaster is a real manifestation of that strategy and pushing forward to do things a little bit differently.
“For many people in D.C. this space will be their first experience with esports, and we really want to make it a great one. But this won’t be a venue just focused on esports. We’re also excited about the proximity to Capital One Arena making it easy to host plenty of Capitals and Wizards events as well. The highly flexible multi-use space provides us with endless opportunities for the future.”
