Friday roundup: D.C. poll shows public support for spending fraction of what Commanders stadium would actually cost

It’s been another long week in what feels like an endless series of long weeks, complete with the most expensive stadium subsidy demand ever and whatever the hell this was and a new pope, so let’s all take a moment to relax by watching a major league baseball player get hit on the head with a pop fly. I watched it four times in a row before writing this post, there’s something remarkably soothing about it, provided you’re not Chase Meidroth or his team physician.

And now there’s no avoiding it: the remaining news of the week!

• A poll of Washington, D.C. residents found they support spending $850 million in city money on a new Commanders stadium by a 55-39% margin, which leaves only the question of how they would feel if they knew it would actually cost the district more than ten times that. Doesn’t matter, though, they won’t get to vote on it anyway, ha ha, can you even imagine?
• Chicago Bears CEO Kevin Warren didn’t even wait until new Arlington Heights mayor Jim Tinaglia was sworn in on Monday to approach him about a new stadium, waylaying him right before his inauguration ceremony. Tinaglia called Warren “a really good guy” and said, “I think if I was able to read his mind, I would say I think he wants to come here. I’m pretty sure that he does.” Or maybe Aurora or Naperville, who can say? Clearly Arlington Heights should have elected Professor X as mayor instead.
• The Baltimore Orioles are getting a whole mess of new video boards at Camden Yards, all paid for by taxpayers thanks to the $600 million-plus in subsidies the state of Maryland approved in 2023, which will at least give local sports fans something to look at instead of the Orioles.
• The dudes who want to bring an MLB team to Orlando say a stadium there could cost $2 billion and they’ve already lined up $1 billion of it, meaning they only need $1 billion more, plus an MLB team, should be easy enough to find those things lying around somewhere.
• New (old) rendering of what a renovated Cleveland Browns stadium could look like! It’s got, uh, people, and some kind of roof deck, and I can’t really tell what else but somebody definitely drew it, three years ago, and now we can look at it, stop the presses!
• Kansas City Royals execs are looking again at North Kansas City as a stadium site, or maybe not! But either way, “The momentum has fans and local leaders buzzing with excitement,” says the Kansas City Star, citing two local officials and several local fans, one of whom remarked, “Traffic-wise it seems like it’ll be a headache,” which must be some kind of homespun Missouri excitement with which my coastal elite brain is unfamiliar.
• Could the Athletics end up back in Oakland if owner John Fisher’s Las Vegas stadium plans fall through? Who can say! More immediately, where the hell will the A’s play playoff games this year if they make the postseason, which they are currently in position to do?