On the same day news emerged of an organized effort to oppose public funding for a new Commanders stadium in D.C., news emerged of a possible deal between the Commanders and D.C. for a $3 billion facility.
The first question, as it always is when negotiations like this happen, is how much will the team and league have to pay? Per the report from NBC Washington, the Commanders will pay up to $2.5 billion.
That means (math time) the project could entail as little as $500 million in public money. And while half a billion is, you know, half a billion, it’s only 16.667 percent of the total expense.
At a time when teams usually shake half the base price of a new or renovated stadium from the taxpayer tree, Commanders owner Josh Harris could have a hard time getting at least 23 of his colleagues to sign off on the plan.
No, an owner of a business can’t decide how to do business without the consent of a sufficient number of the owner’s business partners. And Harris’s partners might not be thrilled about the precedent that a 16.67-percent contribution sets.
Consider the other teams currently trying to build or upgrade stadiums with public money. The Bears, the Browns, the Bengals, the Chiefs. Others are in the pipeline, from the Broncos to the Panthers to the Texans to the Eagles to the Buccaneers. If the Commanders have to foot more than 83 percent of the bill for a new building in D.C., the government officials with whom those other teams are or will be negotiating might want a similar split.
It’s arguably better for an owner to pay for the entire project, like Rams owner Stan Kroenke did. That can be written off as an aberration. It’s harder to downplay what would be a dramatic shift in the stadium financing game.
The initial numbers for a new Commanders facility at the site of RFK Stadium don’t represent a bad deal by Josh Harris. Instead, it’s likely the best deal he’s going to get in the current climate. And that climate speaks to a potentially major (and overdue) adjustment to the existing practice of public subsidies for multi-billionaires.
