The legislation moving Monumental’s planned relocation to Alexandria forward passed through the Virginia House Committee last week by a 17-3 vote…but on Monday the State Senate’s Finance Committee said it has ‘no plans to move forward’ with their bill that would create a sports authority to issue bonds for the new campus, committee chair Sen. Louise Lucas saying the committee has ‘serious concerns’ about using taxpayer money for the arena.
This comes after a back-and-forth on X over the weekend between MSE and DC Mayor Muriel Bowser about the Wizards and Capitals’ future in the District, and so, where do we stand on all this?
WUSA-9’s investigative reporter, Eric Flack, joined Grant & Danny early Monday afternoon to give some details, and later, he joined Craig Hoffman on The Team 980 to expound – and suffice to say the deal is not dead officially, but it’s closer to a plot in the graveyard than a spot on the NoVa map.
“The deal is not dead, but it’s significant that the Senate Finance Committee won't even consider the bill or talk about it right now because there is so much mounting opposition against it,” Flack said. “Make no mistake about it: no Potomac Yard arena could get done if that doesn't change. Monumental hastily called a news conference after all this broke this morning, and they are contending that this is part of the process, and that they have strong support in the House of Delegates and are going to be able to get in front of the Lucases of the world – basically the face of the opposition to this, who say they’re not going to build a billionaire's playground on the backs of taxpayers – and convince them to change their mind.”
How that happens is anyone’s guess, from changing the logistics to asking for less money, although Gov. Youngkin didn’t do MSE any favors by calling out Democrats opposing the situation over the weekend.
“He gave a partisan speech that really called out the same Democrats he needs to work with him on this arena, probably a huge tactical mistake,” Flack said. “The Democrats also feel like he has not done enough to negotiate with them. This is a huge investment in Northern Virginia, and Virginia is a big state; it’s not all as rich as Northern Virginia is, and there are politicians and constituents who do not want to send that much money to Alexandria and Fairfax County without saying, what are you doing for us and other parts of the state? It’s a huge blow, but now it's up to Monumental to see if they can put this deal back together.”
So is this purely about the money at this point, versus infrastructure or anything else?
“I think there's concerns about everything. Everybody's just kind of still digesting this, and I think the further and further we get away from that announcement, people really feel like, and politicians really feel like, Youngkin sprung this on them, and did not do enough outreach with Leonsis to get a broad coalition to come together to support this plan before introducing it,” Flack said. “It’s easy to talk about the money, but I think there's politics involved here, and then you get to fall back on the traffic and all the other issues – but does Senator Lucas from Portsmouth care that there's gonna be increased congestion in and around Alexandria, and that the Metro is all screwed up? I don’t see them giving a darn because it doesn't really affect them, that's really a local problem. I think it’s the fact that there has not been enough done to prove that this huge investment is going to help the entire state of Virginia, and the legislature represents the entire state of Virginia. I think they thought that they would finally have a plan with an owner who wasn't as objectionable as Dan Snyder to bring professional sports to northern Virginia, and I think they thought it was going to be a slam dunk, pun intended, and I think they're now finding out that they were wrong and that they miscalculated.”
Craig, during his segment with Flack, agreed with that sentiment, thinking money can get worked out because people always find ways to get what they want/need…but maybe people are finally listening to the notion that stadiums actually aren't a good investment of public money?
“That argument is always going to resonate, especially with taxpayers,” Flack said, invoking Josh Harris’ plan to build his Sixers a new arena in Philly without cost to taxpayers. “When you get to a guy like Ted Leonsis, who's basically asking the State of Virginia to take out what is going to amount to a $2.8 billion loan when it all gets paid back, to give him a new arena, people wonder how that’s right. Is it really the fact that they haven't done enough to sweeten the pot for different parts of the state, or is it really about the money? I think it’s both, because they've given these legislators nothing to go back to their hometowns with to help them justify the money. If they can't do a better job of justifying how this is a win for all of Virginia, other than we finally have pro sports, I think they're going to have a really tough time turning this around in the Senate.”
And on that Bowser op-ed that Monumental had to answer to?
“There is no doubt they miscalculated and did a poor job of organizing a broad coalition before going public with this,” Flack said. “Nobody, and no lawmaker, hates anything more than making it look like they were in the dark, like they are not in the room where the decisions are being made and things are going on above their head. They absolutely did all of those things, because if they hadn't gotten ahead themselves, they wouldn't be where they are today, which is one of the two bodies of the legislature they need to approve this deal saying, ‘not on our watch.’ That's just a miscalculation, there’s no other way to say it, but the question is if they can retroactively fix the mistakes of the recent past and put this deal back together. Because Monumental says there's no Plan B, there's not even a Plan A because there's only one plan, and it's to move to northern Virginia. They're not thinking about Capital One or talking about ‘if it doesn't happen,’ at least publicly. They have all their eggs in this basket, and they're gonna have to figure out how to put some of these broken eggs back together.”
