Virginia is for Suckers: VA leg looking to spend $1B to lure Washington Commanders

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well families move to VA from MD to improve their lives so I'm sure a football team moving from MD will actually have a winning season.

I honestly think it would do a lot to improve attendance. No Ravens fans live in VA after all.

Whoa, now. Ravens fan here. We had our wedding rehearsal dinner at the stadium and it was great fun.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m not sure you understand how public finance works. Why wouldn’t Virginia bid on getting the new stadium? How do you think Maryland got FedEx from DC’s RFK?

That’s how these kind of projects are built, via public finance through bonds in which the future collected taxes (property or sales) are pledged for future debt payment. I worked on the deal for Nats Park (which almost went to Virginia in Pentagon City) and the Ravens stadium for example.

This proposal of how the state would pay for the stadium is completely normal.

Public financing of football stadiums is a complete waste of taxpayer money. $1B for 8-10 games a year, at 100,000 at max attendance. 1 Million in total attendance. Yes, there may be a few extra events a year, but some of those are simply events that would be held elsewhere. In contrast, many MLB teams draw 2M plus in attendance over a year, excluding playoff games. Basketball/hockey arenas draw perhaps 1.5 Million a year. Moreover, NFL teams are richer and can afford to pay their own way.

You can have your own personal opinions re whether an NFL team should pay to build its own stadium but it doesn’t represent your knowledge of public finance. The projected numbers must be there for future revenue stream to get underwriting and bond ratings. I believe this is a form of TIF or sales tax pledge. This is normal for stadiums. DC does TIFs all the time. Maybe read up more on public finance before you make generalized statements that show no understanding. I’m not a football fan whatsoever so I could care less of Virginia gets the stadium but this is exactly how this sort of deal works.

You are getting hung up on mechanics, which are not the issue here. Also, "The projected numbers must be there for future revenue stream to get underwriting and bond ratings." is laughable. As other PPs have said, the revenue projections never work out. There are numerous scholarly works that demonstrate this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The team clearly wants to be in Virginia. That's where the land is and where the most money can be made.

Snyder just wants to go wherever the most suckers are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:$1B giveaway from Republicans to a billionaire. You can’t make this sh#t up.

Still mad about CRT you dumb dumbs?

Read the article. The proposed stadiums (lots of $$$ brought to Nova) is to be financed by bonds, not the taxpayer. It's brilliant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:$1B giveaway from Republicans to a billionaire. You can’t make this sh#t up.

Still mad about CRT you dumb dumbs?

Like usual , Democrats have abandoned their base to grovel for Big MOney. And most Democrats wonder why poll numbers are going down.

The financial details of SB 727, which would establish the Virginia Football Stadium Authority, were released during a Senate Finance and Appropriations committee hearing Thursday night. The bill, introduced by Sen. Richard Saslaw (D) of Fairfax, was approved by the Finance and Appropriations Committee 14-2 with one abstention. It now moves to the full legislature for approval.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m not sure you understand how public finance works. Why wouldn’t Virginia bid on getting the new stadium? How do you think Maryland got FedEx from DC’s RFK?

That’s how these kind of projects are built, via public finance through bonds in which the future collected taxes (property or sales) are pledged for future debt payment. I worked on the deal for Nats Park (which almost went to Virginia in Pentagon City) and the Ravens stadium for example.

This proposal of how the state would pay for the stadium is completely normal.

Public financing of football stadiums is a complete waste of taxpayer money. $1B for 8-10 games a year, at 100,000 at max attendance. 1 Million in total attendance. Yes, there may be a few extra events a year, but some of those are simply events that would be held elsewhere. In contrast, many MLB teams draw 2M plus in attendance over a year, excluding playoff games. Basketball/hockey arenas draw perhaps 1.5 Million a year. Moreover, NFL teams are richer and can afford to pay their own way.

I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you -- but NFL stadiums also hold music concerts, NCAA football games, NCAA basketball playoffs (e.g. Big East conference, March Madness) ... maybe even a Super Bowl at some point. To say it's only 10 games a year, period, is highly misleading.

Is this going to be a dome? If not, I'm pretty sure there won't be any NCAA tournament games played there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well families move to VA from MD to improve their lives so I'm sure a football team moving from MD will actually have a winning season.

hahaha...

Thanks for the laugh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$1B giveaway from Republicans to a billionaire. You can’t make this sh#t up.

Still mad about CRT you dumb dumbs?

Read the article. The proposed stadiums (lots of $$$ brought to Nova) is to be financed by bonds, not the taxpayer. It's brilliant.

Virginia is on the hook if the stadium doesn’t live up to the proposed revenue projections.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$1B giveaway from Republicans to a billionaire. You can’t make this sh#t up.

Still mad about CRT you dumb dumbs?

Read the article. The proposed stadiums (lots of $$$ brought to Nova) is to be financed by bonds, not the taxpayer. It's brilliant.

"financed by bonds, not the taxpayer." Yes, because bonds allow you to just conjure money out of thin air. Oh wait, no, they have to be paid back. And the money to pay them back comes from ... taxes ... which are paid by ... tax-payers. Oh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I see several issues. Claiming that sales taxes will pay off in full the tax exempt financing is hard to believe, and the contrary regularly occurs with other stadiums. Claiming that an aggregate annual attendance at a football stadium justifies public money is contradicted by the facts. Football stadiums draw at best 1 to 1.2 Million fans a year. Baseball and basketball/hockey arenas blow those numbers away, and are cheaper to build. And NFL claims to be the richest sports league in the US, so show it. But Virginia does not have a major professional sports team, and Virginia probably deserves one. So perhaps pursuing the Commanders makes some sense. State pride, etc.

What does it even mean to say that Virginia "deserves" a professional sports team? Are they awarded out of some sort of merit system?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m not sure you understand how public finance works. Why wouldn’t Virginia bid on getting the new stadium? How do you think Maryland got FedEx from DC’s RFK?

That’s how these kind of projects are built, via public finance through bonds in which the future collected taxes (property or sales) are pledged for future debt payment. I worked on the deal for Nats Park (which almost went to Virginia in Pentagon City) and the Ravens stadium for example.

This proposal of how the state would pay for the stadium is completely normal.

Public financing of football stadiums is a complete waste of taxpayer money. $1B for 8-10 games a year, at 100,000 at max attendance. 1 Million in total attendance. Yes, there may be a few extra events a year, but some of those are simply events that would be held elsewhere. In contrast, many MLB teams draw 2M plus in attendance over a year, excluding playoff games. Basketball/hockey arenas draw perhaps 1.5 Million a year. Moreover, NFL teams are richer and can afford to pay their own way.

I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you -- but NFL stadiums also hold music concerts, NCAA football games, NCAA basketball playoffs (e.g. Big East conference, March Madness) ... maybe even a Super Bowl at some point. To say it's only 10 games a year, period, is highly misleading.

So 20 dates a year? Is that "highly misleading?"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He’s all your baby! Snyder lives in VA, you can have him.

Snyder has always lived in Potomac, had that changed?

No. He still lived in Potomac. However, I suspect that he’s been house shopping in Great Falls.

Not Great Falls, he bought this a few months ago.
https://www.fox5dc.com/news/dan-snyder-buys-most-expensive-house-in-dc-area-real-estate-history

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m not sure you understand how public finance works. Why wouldn’t Virginia bid on getting the new stadium? How do you think Maryland got FedEx from DC’s RFK?

That’s how these kind of projects are built, via public finance through bonds in which the future collected taxes (property or sales) are pledged for future debt payment. I worked on the deal for Nats Park (which almost went to Virginia in Pentagon City) and the Ravens stadium for example.

This proposal of how the state would pay for the stadium is completely normal.

Public financing of football stadiums is a complete waste of taxpayer money. $1B for 8-10 games a year, at 100,000 at max attendance. 1 Million in total attendance. Yes, there may be a few extra events a year, but some of those are simply events that would be held elsewhere. In contrast, many MLB teams draw 2M plus in attendance over a year, excluding playoff games. Basketball/hockey arenas draw perhaps 1.5 Million a year. Moreover, NFL teams are richer and can afford to pay their own way.

I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you -- but NFL stadiums also hold music concerts, NCAA football games, NCAA basketball playoffs (e.g. Big East conference, March Madness) ... maybe even a Super Bowl at some point. To say it's only 10 games a year, period, is highly misleading.

So 20 dates a year? Is that "highly misleading?"

20 dates is way more than FedEx has been averaging over the years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I see several issues. Claiming that sales taxes will pay off in full the tax exempt financing is hard to believe, and the contrary regularly occurs with other stadiums. Claiming that an aggregate annual attendance at a football stadium justifies public money is contradicted by the facts. Football stadiums draw at best 1 to 1.2 Million fans a year. Baseball and basketball/hockey arenas blow those numbers away, and are cheaper to build. And NFL claims to be the richest sports league in the US, so show it. But Virginia does not have a major professional sports team, and Virginia probably deserves one. So perhaps pursuing the Commanders makes some sense. State pride, etc.

What does it even mean to say that Virginia "deserves" a professional sports team? Are they awarded out of some sort of merit system?

I think the idea that a prosperous state like Virginia might want to pursue at least one professional sports with some state money. Good for state pride, etc. In contrast, I see no reason why Maryland or DC would spend a penny pursuing a new football stadium.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I see several issues. Claiming that sales taxes will pay off in full the tax exempt financing is hard to believe, and the contrary regularly occurs with other stadiums. Claiming that an aggregate annual attendance at a football stadium justifies public money is contradicted by the facts. Football stadiums draw at best 1 to 1.2 Million fans a year. Baseball and basketball/hockey arenas blow those numbers away, and are cheaper to build. And NFL claims to be the richest sports league in the US, so show it. But Virginia does not have a major professional sports team, and Virginia probably deserves one. So perhaps pursuing the Commanders makes some sense. State pride, etc.

What does it even mean to say that Virginia "deserves" a professional sports team? Are they awarded out of some sort of merit system?

I think the idea that a prosperous state like Virginia might want to pursue at least one professional sports with some state money. Good for state pride, etc. In contrast, I see no reason why Maryland or DC would spend a penny pursuing a new football stadium.

Re-read OP’s original post, you dum dums.