The fight over whether to devote $7 billion or so in tax expenditures and lease breaks to a new Washington Commanders stadium has, for the moment, turned into a fight over when to fight over it:
- D.C. council president Phil Mendelson said that he plans to “cabin” Mayor Muriel Bowser’s request for $850 million in the city budget, setting the money aside but not actually allocating it until there’s a full development agreement in place, likely in the fall. “It’s just ludicrous to me that we would even get it done by [July] 28th,” when the budget is due, Ward 1 councilmember Brianne Nadeau told WTOP. “We’ve never put together a stadium deal in less than seven months in this city, let alone one that subsidizes a billion dollars of investments.”
- Bowser retorted that if a stadium deal isn’t finalized in July, “our agreement dies,” saying team officials are “outraged” and they “feel blindsided.”
- Mendelson re-retorted that “it’s not even close to characterize their reaction as ‘furious,'” hey, the mayor said “outraged,” get your angry adjectives right!
Whether the Commanders deal gets voted on in July or waits till the fall is important, of course, because rushing stadium bills through legislative votes is a standard tactic of subsidy proponents, so deeply integrated into the stadium playbook that we gave it a name way back in the first edition of Field of Schemes (“the two-minute warning”). Delaying the debate until the fall would, if nothing else, allow for time for a full investigation of the actual costs and benefits of the proposed Commanders deal beyond what the clown consultants came up with, and possibly some debate over how to trim some of the craziest subsidies, like the 90-year deal for at least $6 billion in property tax breaks and discounted rent that Commanders owner Josh Harris would get as a side dish with his $1 billion in city stadium cash.
Meanwhile, yesterday the No Billionaire’s Playground Coalition held a press conference at which former D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute head Ed Lazere said “it’s a real contrast that we are focused on subsidizing a billionaire at a time when residents will be suffering as a result of these budget cuts” and University of Colorado Denver sports economist Geoffrey Propheter said the “20 acres of heavily discounted rent” was “the big pot of money” that D.C. would be giving up. Propheter also said that if the local economy does well, the lost future rent could amount to as much as $20 billion — I was part of the press conference, though my comments about how the Commanders stadium deal is like an iceberg with most of the subsidies hidden below the surface didn’t make the WTOP cut — making a $6 billion city cost ($7 billion counting direct stadium funding) the more optimistic scenario. Either way, it would be a record-shattering stadium deal, so you can understand why some city councilmembers might want to take a moment to breathe before deciding on it — and why Harris is eager to get it approved fast, before anyone takes a closer look at the fine print.
There is a long standing proposal for a Capitol Metro extension / expansion – the purple line – which would largely follow the Capitol Beltway. One of the most congested highways on the East Coast. Even at a cost of $100 million per mile, this subway line would cost no more than this latest dowry to another billionaire Cinderella. It would provide enormous benefits in terms of traffic reductions, improved mobility for car less individuals, overall air quality and serve as a catalyst for economic development across a large portion of the DC Metro.
I have not been in FedEx field and whatever the hell its called now, but the last time I saw it, it was a beautiful facility that could easily last another fifty years. Of course that’s being ignorant on my part of the deal cities now have to make in landing one of these big league trophy wives – that is buy her a new mega mansion every twenty years or so. Or she’s long gone, baby. Those mega mansions can bit a bit dusty over those twenty years, and their designs become sooo yesterday.
Lol, if DC does woo Cinderella back to her former ballroom (RFK Stadium), they best start planning the replacement’s replacement. After all, 2040 is just around the corner, and by then the new Commanders Quarters will be at least ten years old and well on its way to obsolescence. And with suitors undoubtedly waiting in Arlington, Fredericksburg or Winchester Virginia. Martinsburg or Charlestown West Virginia. Or Frederick, Hagerstown (or what the heck) even Salisbury Maryland, the Commanders ownership will already be pushing the latest in vaping architecture for their next generation cabin in the sky.
Let the games begin!
Oooops. Forgot about the fine burg of Cumberland Maryland. Way out in the Appalachians. The Cumberland Commanders. Nice ring to it, methinks