Washington’s NFL team hasn’t won a playoff game since January 2006, a year before Steve Jobs unveiled the first iPhone. Worse, a misogynistic work environment and alleged financial shenanigans have led the league, Congress and Virginia’s attorney general to investigate owner Dan Snyder and his broken franchise.
So by all means, why wouldn’t Virginia, which like many states struggles to adequately fund public education and other services, want to fork over more than a quarter-billion dollars to help Snyder build a new stadium?
Moreover, why should it be any surprise that, as first reported by The Times-Dispatch’s Michael Phillips, the newly branded Washington Commanders spent $100 million on 200 acres for a potential domed stadium and entertainment district along a notoriously congested stretch of Interstate 95?
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Civic pride is a marvelous asset, and the prospect of bringing a major professional sports franchise to our state is absolutely appealing. And needless to say, Commanders fans who live in the Richmond and Hampton Roads regions would have far easier drives to games in Woodbridge than to the team’s current home in Landover, Md. — 25-year-old FedEx Field.
But let’s think larger picture here.
As cool and space-aged as the renderings Phillips revealed are, and as entrenched as the NFL is in our sporting fabric, the Woodbridge site near the Potomac Mills shopping mecca is problematic.
Just after lunch hour Monday, my wife and I crawled through that stretch en route to Nats Park and Trea Turner’s Washington homecoming. There was no apparent reason — no wreck, construction or inclement weather.
And that’s how 95 in Northern Virginia, the embodiment of overused, rolls 24/7/365. You just never know.
Indeed, as a frequent traveler on the Richmond-to-Philadelphia corridor, I dare say I’ve sat motionless somewhere between Doswell and Springfield at every hour of the day and night, dozens of times driving to and from games at FedEx Field.
All it takes is an ill-timed pump of the brakes, a split-second of stupidity or just the traffic gods’ spite.
Compounding traffic concerns: Unlike to Landover, there is no Metro service to Woodbridge.
Game-day gridlock is hardly uncommon at NFL venues. Kansas City, Buffalo and Green Bay are especially grim, and Landover can be a beast, particularly during those rare seasons when the home team is relevant.
But in this era of enhanced home viewing, why would you offer fans yet another reason to stay away?
Let’s also understand that Woodbridge is merely among several potential locations the Commanders are exploring. Landover, Dumfries (just south of Woodbridge on 95), the site of the old RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C., and Loudoun County, where the team has practiced since 1992, are the others.
To entice Snyder to build in Virginia, the General Assembly is considering a bill that would contribute approximately $350 million to a project that would cost about $3 billion, including a practice complex for the team, restaurant row, amphitheater and residential development.
Partial government financing of pro sports playpens is commonplace, and at $350 million, Virginia’s share would be less than 12%. But the state should have other priorities, especially in this lean economic climate.
For example, the T-D’s Eric Kolenich recently chronicled VCU’s budgeting challenges and reluctant tuition increase. Rest assured, those issues are prevalent throughout Virginia’s secondary and higher education systems.
Just because New York State ($600 million) and Erie County ($250 million) recently agreed to bankroll most of the $1.4 billion for a new Buffalo Bills stadium, and just because Clark County, Nev., is on the hook for more than 40% of the Las Vegas Raiders’ stadium ($750 million of $1.8 billion), doesn’t mean Virginia needs to follow suit.
Better to follow the lead of New Jersey and California, home to privately funded stadiums that each house two NFL teams — the Giants and Jets in North Jersey, the Chargers and Rams in suburban Los Angeles.
Virginia’s dalliance with Snyder is all the more baffling in light of more than 40 former employees accusing the organization of rampant sexual harassment, and another former employee alleging accounting improprieties. All this as Snyder begrudgingly renamed the team after decades of criticism that its original moniker slurred Native Americans.
Indeed, according to USA Today’s Jarrett Bell, Snyder has become so toxic that some fellow owners hope to force him to sell the Commanders, a step that would be both extreme and welcome.
Still, some Virginia lawmakers are intent on aligning with Snyder and his losing product.
Cryptocurrency would be a wiser investment.