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

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]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.  [/quote]

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.  [/quote]

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.[/quote]

FedEx has hosted hardly any of those things. Pre-Covid in 2019 it had one music festival and a couple Rolling Stones shows. The year before, just a set of Taylor Swift shows. Before that, Springsteen, Metallica, hardly any other artists can fill it. A handful of college football games over its 24 years of existence, hardly any of them major. It has only ever hosted one Army-Navy game which considering where it’s located is pathetic. Virginia Tech and Maryland have each hosted games there a couple times. They have the Prince George’s Classic which is an annual HBCU matchup. This is not comparable to a baseball stadium or a basketball/hockey arena both of which attract crowds to a neighborhood 1 out of every 4 days. [/quote]

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