Turns out there’s not an expressway from Capital One Arena to Leonsis Legacy Land across the river after all.
A prominent Virginia lawmaker declared a bill paving the way for a new Washington Wizards/Capitals arena in Alexandria dead before arrival on Monday. Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee chair Louise Lucas fulfilled her pledge to kill arena legislation without helping her Virginia Beach district with toll relief. Indeed, Lucas said, “Do I have dumb. . . written across my forehead” weeks ago over the bill.
She doesn’t.
Wow, I so love the frankness of a real politician. Lucas is doing what politicians do – horse trading. She wants money for better schools and toll relief to her voters. Nothing new there. It’s how business gets done. Lucas has the power to kill any help to build the arena and she’s using it.
For how long? Well, that’s what backrooms are for. Eventually, a deal will be done and Ted Leonsis will get his funding for Leonsis Legacy Land. But, not before Lucas gets her due.
Fair enough.
The key here is politicians and taxpayers are no longer willing to subsidize venues of billionaires. They know owners can afford to build their own arenas and stadiums.
Now, Leonsis is spending plenty of dough for the proposed move, as he should. And, it’s reasonable for governments to spend money to attract businesses. It’s all part of a melting pot of life. For every person who doesn’t care about sports, there are others who don’t want to fund a concert hall. But, we trade off so everyone gets something and some Virginians would like a major sports team or two.
The devil is the details. As in, how many zeroes we talking?
Meanwhile, you know District Mayor Muriel Bowser is smiling broadly. Her $500 million offer to keep teams downtown was too little and too late. Frankly, Leonsis just decided to move to a better opportunity.
But if Leonsis can’t make nice with Lucas, suddenly Bowser’s offer isn’t dismissed. Keeping the Wiz/Caps in the city could also gain leverage in talks with the Commanders over the RFK site. While Bowser would love the political capital of regaining the old Redskins, she could offer the site to Leonsis to force a better deal from either team.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin is so desperate for a deal that was announced prematurely (ironically, just like the proposed Redskins stadium on the same site), he’s using the old political trick of saying it’s all about the children. A governor’s spokesperson said the arena would create funds for education. And, you know, you must hate children if not backing the bill. Yeah, sure. Maryland politicians said the same thing about casinos. I don’t see any more Einsteins around me despite billions of tax dollars casinos generate.
Ultimately, Leonsis will get his new arena. It will just cost him more. Luckily, he’ll have fans to pass along the cost. Translation – you’ll pay more for tickets.
Isn’t politics grand?