What's Missing at New Nats Stadium?

WASHINGTON -- In the sprint to get the new ballpark for the Nationals up and running next year, an important element may have been overlooked, and it could cause big confusion.

The name on the closest Metro station to the stadium is Navy Yard, but it doesn't say anything about a stadium being there. Right now, the only Metro station with the word stadium in it, is the Stadium-Armory stop. That name isn't changing and the Nats aren't playing there next year.

D.C. leaders tell WTOP this is the first time the issue has been raised. They say they do understand there could be confusion.

"It hasn't come up before," says Carrie Brooks, communications director for Mayor Adrian Fenty.

The D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission also said the issue has not been addressed.

The D.C. Department of Transportation, which is currently doing extensive work around the ballpark, says this is the first they have heard about the situation as well.

Transportation leaders have been touting the new stadium in Southeast as a place where 50 percent of fans will take mass transit to get there. But unless the name on the Metro station is changed, some may be headed in the wrong direction.

A request for a name change at the Navy Yard stop would have to come from the District and would have to be paid in full by the District.

A name change on a Metro stop isn't exactly an easy procedure. The last time there was a change was at the "Rhode Island Avenue-Brentwood Station" as well as the "Archives-Navy Memorial-Penn Quarter" stop. Both of those changes cost almost $211,000 and took months because maps and signs had to be replaced.

Federal workers may have something to say about a name change as well, as thousands of them now use the Navy Yard Metro station with regularity. The U.S. Department of Transportation recently moved its headquarters very close to the station.

Tourists who look on a map now will clearly see a station with the word stadium in it, it will just be where the soccer team plays. The baseball team doesn't work there anymore.

(Copyright 2007 by WTOP. All Rights Reserved.)