Report: Contract Spat Means Qatar Isn't Going To Pay To Keep The Metro Open Late After The Caps Game After All 

A fun thing about Washington D.C. is that its metro transportation system closes at 11:30 p.m. on weeknights even if there are major sports events happening. Instead of simply extending metro hours so people can get home more easily, the Washington Metro Area Transit Association gets businesses or other third parties to pay $100,000 to keep the metro open an hour later on game nights so fans at the games don’t have to pay for cabs or wait for buses or otherwise figure out a way to make it back to their beds where they can cry themselves to sleep over their team’s inevitable playoff losses.

Last night, after Game 3, Exelon and Pepco paid to keep the metro open (even though the game ended at about 10:50 p.m.). Tomorrow night, Qatar was reportedly going to pay to extend the metro’s hours, but that appears to have hit a snag. NBC Washington reporter Adam Tuss cited a metro source saying that actually no money has exchanged hands between the nation of Qatar and Washington D.C’s public transportation system. D.C. council member Jack Evans told Tuss that the deal “seems to have come undone.”

Of course, the bigger question here is why a foreign country, or anyone non-city entity for that matter, is paying to keep the Washington D.C. metro open anyhow. Hopefully the game ends on time!