Executive: Club must play at an ‘elite’ level
WASHINGTON — Jason Levien, D.C. United’s chief executive, says the “bones of the club” are strong. He lists the opening of Audi Field last summer and Segra Field for the second-division squad this summer, the training center slated to open in Leesburg next year and the core of players that helped produce two MLS playoff berths.
But he also acknowledges profound disappointment in quickly exiting the postseason each time, and frustration over United’s long-term success rate: no MLS Cup appearances in 15 years and no conference finals since 2012.
“There is pressure on us, certainly,” he said Friday. “We are no longer in the opening act of Audi Field. People are looking to see how D.C. United is going to respond to the second full season in the new stadium, how the team is going to coalesce, and can they take it to the next level?”
United took it to the next level in terms of star power the past season and a half, employing Wayne Rooney, who, coupled with the new stadium, re-energized an organization that had been treading water at RFK Stadium.
Advancing to the playoffs — which, with 14 of 24 teams qualifying, is not difficult — should be only a starting point, Levien said.
“This is a team that should be competing at the elite levels of MLS,” he said. “We strived for that in the past, but that wasn’t the expectation.”
So what will Levien do about it?
“We plan to invest in the squad. We have the resources to do it. We’ve been planning for this moment for a long period of time because we’ve known since the summer about Wayne’s departure. Even prior to that, we saw an opportunity to add firepower.”
Rooney’s exodus freed $530,000 in salary cap space — the maximum spent by the league on a designated player — but also another $3 million that United paid out of its own pockets annually for the worldfamous English striker.
United will not necessarily replace him with someone of similar salary, renown and marketability.
“There aren’t too many Wayne Rooneys out there,” Levien said. “The stars aligned.”