RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia lawmakers will not vote during Wednesday’s special session on a bill that would help fund a new Washington Commanders stadium in Northern Virginia, according to state Sen. Jeremy McPike (D). It’s another major blow to a plan that now appears on life support.
“No vote tomorrow, unless something changes tonight,” McPike, who represents Woodbridge, said Tuesday. “It is highly unlikely anything changes. No vote.”
The Virginia legislature was expected to vote on the funding plan June 1 when lawmakers resumed debate on a new budget. The proposal to give owner Dan Snyder future stadium tax revenues to build in Northern Virginia overwhelmingly passed through the finance committees of both houses earlier in 2022.
But as sexual harassment and financial mismanagement allegations stacked up against Snyder and his front office, the legislation seemingly lost support, first slashed from $1 billion in taxpayer funding to roughly $300 million or less. Now, the plan is seemingly in limbo altogether.
The Commanders, however, saw the vote delay as an opportunity.
“We are grateful for the bipartisan support the stadium authority legislation has already received, and any additional time will certainly provide us with more opportunities to share how this project can create new jobs, generate significant tax revenue, and spur economic development for surrounding communities and the Commonwealth as a whole," Commanders Team President Jason Wright said Tuesday.
McPike is one of three state senators who publicly changed their "yes" vote to a "no" on the stadium funding issue. WUSA9 spoke with another, Chap Petersen of Fairfax, late last week.
“I'm not standing up against anybody,” Petersen said. “I think I'm just mentioning something that perhaps is obvious, but nobody wants to talk about, which is the Washington Commanders are not the Washington Redskins. And they're not the institution, the icon that we had in this community for 80 years. They are effectively a team with no tradition, and pretty much no fans. No fan base that is, and I don't think they're a viable long-term partnership candidate for the state.”
According to data obtained by WUSA9 from the consumer research firm Nielsen Scarborough, support for Commanders hit an all-time low last year, with just 29% of adults in the D.C. television market calling themselves fans of the team.
“I think that there continues to be negative publicity,” Petersen said. “And I want to be clear, that's not what's driving my decision. I'm not going to get caught up in allegations by some ex-employee. I just have concerns that this team, instead of increasing their fan support is going in the opposite direction. I have a hard time seeing people in the stands in September other than supporters for the opposing team, because you already have the Baltimore Ravens in Maryland. If they can't draw fans in Northern Virginia, then eventually they're going to have to move elsewhere and we're going to be stuck with a very large public works project without an anchor tenant.”
Supporters of the stadium bill, including state Sen. Scott Surovell (D-Prince William County), remain confident the Commanders would bring an economic boost.
“I’ve never heard of an NFL franchise actually failing before,” Surovell said. “It’s a club that a lot of people try to get into because these franchises tend to be pretty profitable. So that’s not really a concern of mine.”
But Surovell added, even he doesn’t know if the legislation will pass.
“There has been a lot of things that have happened in the last two months, and I don’t know where the votes are in the caucus right now," the senator said.
The Washington Commanders continue to stress, both publicly and privately, that the team has not made any final decisions about the stadium location, and Maryland and D.C. are still being considered as site options, as well.
The stadium funding plan could theoretically be passed by the Virginia legislature in June if lawmakers can hammer out an agreement and the plan has enough votes to pass. If not, Snyder will have to decide if he wants to move forward with a Northern Virginia Stadium without taxpayer money, or build on land the team already owns in Prince George’s County.
D.C. remains seemingly out of the mix at this point.