Having a bit of an insane day, but didn’t want to let this pass without noting the WTFness of it:
A group of Virginia state lawmakers voted Monday in favor of a deal to bring the Washington Capitals and Wizards to a new arena in Northern Virginia, according to four people with knowledge of the situation.
Under the plan, which would still require approval from the full General Assembly and local officials, both teams would move to a new facility anchoring a massive mixed-use development in Alexandria’s Potomac Yard neighborhood, according to three of those people and four others.
So, like, what? NBC Washington at least clarifies (unlike the Washington Post, their reporters clearly can’t focus what with worrying about getting laid off) that the “group of state lawmakers” is the Virginia Major Economic Investment Project Approval Commission, which is made up of seven house members and five senate members. The project funding still isn’t finalized, says the TV station, but State Del. George Barker assures everyone there’s nothing to worry about:
Barker said the project wouldn’t cost Virginia taxpayers anything because it would not come from an existing pool of money. The commonwealth would own any arena and lease it to Monumental for 40 years, and the company’s lease would pay off the project over that time, Barker said.
Sure, that could work — if Capitals and Wizards owner Ted Leonsis agrees to pay enough to cover the payments on the construction costs, which are unknown, because see above re: still to be finalized. Also Leonsis hasn’t even agreed to talk about moving to Alexandria, let alone what the lease would say. But Barker still says “approval is a sure thing,” in NBC Washington’s words, because he’s all about being proactively delulu.
This all presumably needs to be signed off by the legislature anyway, I’ll check in on that once things are less insane for me. (Or you all can, in the comments, you’re good at that.) The main thing here is that it looks like suddenly we have some kind of bidding war between D.C. and Virginia for the Caps and Wizards, which can only be good for Leonsis if he wants to line his pockets with public money, which we know he does.
I’ll believe it when I see it. A generation ago there was a groundbreaking ceremony at that same location for a new NFL stadium. The local reaction was so negative that then-owner Jack Kent Cooke had to keep looking for land and handouts, eventually settling on a Maryland site for what’s now FedEx Field.
A lot as changed. What was then an abandoned railyard full of toxic waste is now a transit-oriented development in-progress with a brand new infill subway station. NBA/NHL arenas are more lively than NFL stadiums. But I’m skeptical Alexandrians will see a stadium as the best use for one of the city’s most prime locations for new development.
Virginia served as a mostly-implausible-but-still-effective bargaining chip for the Lerner’s to get a better deal on an MLB stadium in D.C. Most of us here think that’s what’s going on this time, too.
Not sure the FAA will be chill with this location and large scale mixed used development so close to National.
Seems like something Youngkin pushed thru before that commission’s composition changes in January.
It’s not like a Dem controlled Assembly means death to stadium deals, but youngkin becomes a lame duck and I’m sure the dems in Richmond will have differing priorities from the outgoing governor.