CareFirst Arena — Attraction in Washington

If you are a huge WNBA fan and come to this arena thinking you’ll maybe get your 35 Rebekah Gardner jersey signed when your in the second row, right behind the bench. when one of your favorite players injured. Less than 5 feet away. You’ll have their lovely CDC event staff, stop you. Because some Cee U Nxt Tues black lady staff member will believe she’ll lose her job if she’ll allow you to go down to the first row when you’re sitting in the second row. seeing a fan wanting a jersey signed with sharpie in hand and abusing her power telling me she can’t let me walk down to the first step to get the player’s attention. Mind you this is at the end of the first quarter where play is stopped. the player is injured in street clothes. Then at halftime. When they come back to the bench, I go for a second attempt then she just starts screaming yelling for me to go back to my seat. I asked her didn’t not pay for a ticket? I can’t stand where I want to in this arena? I feel like this is because I was a white fan and she was black. in a position of power. I drove 3 hours with multiple jerseys hoping to just get one signed. I’m now watching this sky play Atlanta and realize there’s no event staff on the floor in Atlanta to just ruin the fans time. Because maybe they wanna have their favorite player sign a jersey that takes 10 seconds and have it handed back to them. they take my big shopping bag I kept my 4 jerseys at the gate.and when the game was over I had asked for a small plastic bag at merchandise just to put my new jerseys in. “WE CANT GIVE AWAY BAGS SIR” I simple responded to her. “But you can take my bag at the gate. Makes sense.” First and last time attending this trash arena where they are so disrespectful to the fans you wanna be down there after a game you need a “post game ticket” all about the money here in DC....

Drove there early to understand the layout of the facility before the PFL fights. Have to say its quite the maze if its your first time there, highly recommend navigating during daylight due to lots of construction blocking roads.

The main entrance is at the intersection of Alabama and Oak / 12th Street. However, if you’re driving from 295 the most direct route would be to continue on Malcolm X Ave then turn left on 8th street. Yes, there are two yellow signs saying No Outlet, these are outdated and it is a through street. Just after the turn you’ll arrive at the Green parking lot. This is the closest lot to the arena.

There is also a Red lot which is toward where Sycamore and Pecan Streets meet. Note that the Red lot is around much of the construction ongoing so it can be difficult to tell which ways are dead ends or open roads. Both of these lots are $10, and I was told cash or credit are accepted. Both have shuttles going back and forth from the parking lot to the arena (however probably not needed from the Green lot). I also passed a Blue lot when coming from the Alabama side but was given no info on it and looked full already.

Just did a driving tour so far but went by the Congress Heights green line metro station as well. There’s a direct walking path from the metro to the arena so you don’t need to detour back along Alabama Ave.

I’ll update the review when actually attending the event but wanted to get this out there in case it helps. Also was unable to find a phone number for the ticket office or anywhere, the website just...

There are some great things about this arena and some not so great things.

Great: So easy to get to. Metro stop is 5 min away, Lyft and Uber drop off and pick up area is clear and simple. Driving looks pretty easy as there isn't much traffic in the vicinity and there are 3 parking lots. There are shuttles from each lot. If you get there early, you can park on the street. It's further for me than Nats Park but much faster to get to.

I went to see the Mystics and the arena is a perfect size for them. It was sold out for a finals game with a loud, fun, and engaged fan base.

Game experience is fun. The music, the announcers, the fans... My friends and I had a blast.

Not Great: There is nothing within walking distance. Don't bother getting here early bc there is nowhere nearby to hang out.

There are no benches outside. For anyone who can't stand for long amounts of time, do not get there early. You will have nowhere to sit while waiting for the doors to open.

There are no drinking fountains. This should be a requirement at all entertainment facilities. You should not have to buy water in plastic bottles. Ever.

Food is pretty lacking. I got the standard chicken tenders and fries and the chicken was so tough, chewing was pretty difficult. The fries were good, though.

The rows are very close together. You would think that a modern arena would have more space between each row... Nope. These rows are so close that your legs will bump into the head of the person in front of you if you are...