Funding for the proposed stadium for the Washington Capitals and Washington Wizards in Alexandria isn’t in the state budget. Without the funding, the effort to bring the sports teams to Virginia becomes less likely.
Senate Democrats removed the $2 billion financial package for the Potomac Yard arena from the spending plan, prompting Gov. Glenn Youngkin to appeal to the Virginia General Assembly, which adjourns on Saturday.
In a news conference, the governor called the Senate’s action a “colossal mistake.”
“The Senate refused to give the single largest economic development deal in Virginia’s history any serious, meaningful consideration, breaking their own long-standing tradition in the process and avoiding the broad bipartisan support in both houses,” Youngkin said.
Youngkin and Monumental Sports & Entertainment executive Ted Leonsis had a nonbinding agreement to bring the teams to Alexandria and to redevelop the Potomac Yard area as not only a 70-acre sports complex but also an entertainment district. The complex, as proposed, would sit behind the Potomac Yard shopping center and include its redevelopment. The plan called for a new campus for the headquarters of Monumental, an arena for the two teams, a state-of-the-art Monumental Sports Network media studio, a Wizards practice facility, a 6,000-seat performing arts venue, and an expanded esports facility. There would also be new retail businesses, a conference center, and community gathering spaces.
The governor could still propose a budget amendment for the Alexandria stadium funding, which would require legislative approval, or he could call for a special session of the General Assembly in April.
Meanwhile, in Freedom of Information Act documents NBC4 Washington sought about the proposed stadium, Alexandria’s mayor likened the arena deal to outdoor dining on King Street, saying in a text that the only difference was scale. “We finance and build the street, let a private restaurant use it in exchange for rent, and then tax the crap out of their operation to pay for the street and then some,” a text from Justin Wilson said. It’s not clear with whom he was texting.
Feature image courtesy JBG SMITH
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