WASHINGTON — D.C. government on Monday continued its fight to conceal critical information contained in a taxpayer-funded study on how the city could help pay for a new Washington Commanders Stadium.
At 11 a.m., WUSA9 received an email response to its open records request asking for the release of the city’s new Sports Economic Impact Study. In it, a D.C. government Freedom of Information Act officer wrote the city was withholding the portion of the report that outlined various financing models for the city’s share of a potential new Washington Commanders stadium, because D.C. law “exempts disclosure of trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from outside the government” that could “result in substantial harm to the competitive position” of the city.
“We wouldn’t release anything you know, that was the playbook for our competitors,” DC Mayor Muriel Bowser said Monday when pressed on the city’s response.
Twenty-seven days after WUSA9 filed a legal request to obtain the entire sports economic impact study, D.C. did release the portions of the report which paint a rosy picture of the economic windfall a new Commanders football stadium would bring to the District. But how the stadium would be paid for remains a mystery.
In May, WUSA9 reported on paper the District is virtually out of borrowing power after shelling out $520 million to keep the Capitals and Wizards from moving to Virginia.
And multiple sources told WUSA9 the study, which cost D.C. taxpayers close to $400,000, suggests various financing models the city could use to come up with its share of a new Commanders stadium.
“The parts of the study that wouldn’t disadvantage us in any negotiations have been released,” Bowser said.
Councilmember Charles Allen is opposed to using the RFK site for a new football stadium.
“If the city is going to spend money on a study, then yes, that should be made public,” Allen said. “I can understand if there is something proprietary then someone might have an interest in not having that disclosed. But when we are talking about public dollars being spent on NFL stadiums for millionaires and billionaires, I think the public has a right to know what we paid for.”
D.C. still does not have long-term control of the RFK site, and a bill in Congress which would give D.C. total control of the federally owned land has stalled in the Senate after sailing through the House of Representatives.
Among those reportedly opposed to the bill: Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen, who – like Gov. Moore – want the Commanders to remain in Maryland.
If Van Hollen or another senator blocks the RFK bill, the language can also be attached to a larger spending bill, which often happens in Congress, to try and get around the opposition.
But the Senate goes on recess later this month and then comes back for a short session in September to end the legislative year, so the clock is ticking.