D.C. council set to approve $515m for Caps/Wizards arena, figure out lease details later

It’s been six whole days since D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser announced an agreement to spend $515 million on upgrades to the Washington Capitals and Wizards arena to keep the teams in town, so is it time yet to release the details of the city’s term sheet with team owner Ted Leonsis? No? The D.C. council is just going to go ahead and vote on it without seeing the details? Cool, cool:

The D.C. Council will vote on Tuesday on a half-billion dollars to rebuild Capital One Arena as part of the deal to keep the Capitals and Wizards in the city.

Then on Wednesday, Mayor Muriel Bowser will present her budget, which is expected to include tax increases and deep cuts to government programs.

Council chair Phil Mendelson said he hasn’t even asked to see the mayor’s term sheet, on the grounds that it’s not binding, and all the binding parts like an actual lease will need to be approved by the council later anyway:

“We are not voting on the lease, which will have to come to the council. We’re not voting on any other documents that, depending upon what they are, will have to come to the council. And that’s where the District will be bound,” he said.

Today’s vote, then, which Mendelson says he expects to be approved, just socks away $515 million in the district’s capital budget to be reserved for Leonsis, should a lease be agreed on. That’s not entirely unreasonable, but also it’s worth wondering why the rush, especially since Leonsis’s only other option in Virginia just crashed and burned and then had people jump up and down on its ashes, and besides the city’s own lawyer says the teams are locked into their current D.C. lease through 2047. The council meeting is slated to start at noon today — we’ll see whether any more details are revealed there, but I wouldn’t get my hopes up.

UPDATE, 6:11 pm ET: Unanimously approved! So much for concerns about “a rubber stamp of terms that we don’t yet know.”