Daniel Snyder wants a new stadium by 2027
The Commonwealth of Virginia’s new governor Glenn Youngkin wants the Washington Football Team owner Daniel Snyder to know that he would be pleased if Snyder considered moving his business to his jurisdiction. Normally a business owner like Snyder would be toxic given that his business had sexual harassment charges against it confirmed by the National Football League. And some people in Congress want to know a little more about the National Football League’s findings following an investigation that included Snyder getting hit with a fine and agreeing to turn part of the business over to his wife. But Snyder has a valuable commodity and politicians are willing to genuflect before sports owners to please them in helping to build stadiums and arenas for them. The thinking is that if we don’t do it, some other set of politicians will give a sports owner what he or she desires.
Youngkin told the Virginia General Assembly that he would like the Virginia Baseball Stadium Authority, which was created in 1992 to attract a Major League Baseball team to northern Virginia and has not functioned since 2004 because Washington, D. C. got the Montreal Expos franchise, to focus on building a football stadium. Snyder has not been very successful in finding a piece of land for his business. In 2018, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan ended negotiations with Snyder that would have seen a football stadium built across the river from the District. Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia don’t necessarily want to get into a bidding war for Snyder’s business. The Virginia area that might most interest Snyder is near Dulles Airport, not far from the team’s training facility, which would be located near the Metro Silver Line. Snyder might also be interested in Washington’s RFK stadium site. Someone will give Snyder what he wants, eventually.
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