Maryland withdrawals effort to keep Redskins in the state near the National Harbor

[turtle28]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/maryland-gov-larry-hogan-informs-redskins-he-is-withdrawing-effort-to-build-new-stadium-at-this-time/2019/02/12/1afa8372-2f35-11e9-86ab-5d02109aeb01_story.htm

Sorry @Thaiphoon

Quote

That said, yesterday’s news out of Maryland, broken by The Post’s Liz Clarke and Ovetta Wiggins, seems potentially significant. Gov. Larry Hogan (R) informed the Redskins that he is halting his plan to lure the team to a site near MGM National Harbor “at this time,” a spokeswoman confirmed. Here's the part you care about most:

Barring a change of heart, Hogan’s decision strips Redskins owner Daniel Snyder of significant leverage in getting his new stadium built — leverage Snyder was counting on when, and if, he starts negotiating with officials in the District on financial incentives and accommodations for the project.

The possibility of building adjacent to MGM National Harbor, as Hogan had advocated, would have served as a useful bargaining chip, as well as a fallback plan. Virginia, under Gov. Ralph Northam (D), has shown little interest in landing the Redskins’ next stadium. With Hogan informing Redskins officials that he was calling a halt to his courtship, that leaves Snyder with essentially one suitor: D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D), who has publicly championed the return of the Redskins to the RFK site. (Read the story)

[EDITED BY MODERATOR]: Again, too much quoted.

 

[bigdog44]

Was wondering when someone would put together a post about this. At the least this move by gov. Hogan makes Bruce look bad in his efforts to get a stadium built. One question though, I heard the RFK site has plans for a 60,000 seat stadium. Why so low? Before the jokes about the team not selling tickets, if your building a stadium wouldn’t you want to attract Super Bowls and final fours? If the Redskins turn things around they could easily fill an 80,000 seat stadium. Just seems like 60,000 is shooting low

[Thaiphoon]

Good move by the Gov. IMHO. If DC and VA follow suit, it would force Danny to pony up more of his money to get it built in any of the three areas.

Of course, Dan still owns FedEx and the surrounding land. He could simply just rebuild, right there. And he wouldn't need to worry about getting a new deal.

[naptownskinsfan]

1 hour ago, bigdog44 said:

Was wondering when someone would put together a post about this. At the least this move by gov. Hogan makes Bruce look bad in his efforts to get a stadium built. One question though, I heard the RFK site has plans for a 60,000 seat stadium. Why so low? Before the jokes about the team not selling tickets, if your building a stadium wouldn’t you want to attract Super Bowls and final fours? If the Redskins turn things around they could easily fill an 80,000 seat stadium. Just seems like 60,000 is shooting low

Hogan has another site that was mentioned before, but this was up near Westminster somewhere.  I am not sure if that is off the table, or even got on the table in the first place.  I thought he would be bending over backwards to keep the Redskins here, but maybe not.  It seems that VA is lukewarm at best (probably because of the raw deal Richmond has with Redskins Park right now) so DC is the only place now actively pursuing a stadium deal. 

As for stadium size, the stadiums are going smaller since Jerry World.   The Niners opened Levi Stadium in 2014 with a 68,500 capacity, which expands to over 75,000 (they had almost 77,000 for Wrestlemania a few years ago.) .  The Falcons Mercedes-Benz Stadium, which opened last year, has a capacity of 71,000 for football.  US Bank Stadium, which opened for the Vikings in 2016, has a capacity around 66,000.  Most teams are finding that fans are not coming out as much for games anymore, and can charge a premium for what seats they do have when they go smaller.  

Also remember, Snyder owns the current Fed Ex Field land.  Nothing would stop him from tearing down the stadium and rebuilding.  While under construction, he could work out a deal to play games at M&T Bank Stadium (home of the Ravens) or at UMD-College Park or the Naval Academy.  

[offbyone]

Loser: Redskins Fans.  

Even if you hate the maryland option, it is important leverage to get the D.C. site.  

[Slateman]

6 hours ago, offbyone said:

Loser: Redskins Fans.  

Even if you hate the maryland option, it is important leverage to get the D.C. site.  

Winner: Taxpayers

It's embarrassing that billionaires are getting the working class to pay for the stadium for their high priced toys. Moreover, it's become apparent that football stadiums make terrible investments for the improvement of surrounding areas, as they are simply to expensive to build and too infrequently used to benefit the surrounding areas. Football stadiums might have 25 events all year, and that's if you max out your football capacity. DC United won't play there anymore, which leaves you college football and a few concerts a year. But honestly, Nats Park and the Capital One Arena are far more suited to events, and have way more activity throughout the year. Not too many events command a need for 60,000+ seats. 15,000 - 40,000 is far more suitable, particularly when one of the venues is indoors.

 

Winner: Redskins fans

This move undercuts Bruce Allen's credibility with Dan Synder to get a new stadium. Quite frankly, Allen is rapidly losing any leverage he had. He's the brother of a very Republican former politician who no longer wields any influence. Virginia and DC are unlikely to have Republican leadership any time soon, and Hogan is not like most Republicans (and, frankly, the only reason he's governor in Maryland is because of how badly the Democrats screwed up the budget/taxes in that state). Bruce Allen's political capital is quickly dwindling. Virginia is going to say no, unless the team agrees to rectify the Richmond situation. Maryland is effectively saying no, unless Dan Snyder is going to pony up the majority of the money. That leaves the District, which was already an uphill battle due to the resolution they passed regarding the team's name. Now the city has the leverage and, frankly, no real need to bring the team back to DC. Again, a football stadium isn't as useful for non-football events. Particularly since the development of Buzzard's Point.

So why does this make the fans winners? Because it's yet another thing Bruce Allen can't accomplish. Which means we're one step closer to getting rid of Bruce Allen.

[MikeT14]

I wouldn't have minded a National Harbor site tbh.

[naptownskinsfan]

7 hours ago, offbyone said:

Loser: Redskins Fans.  

Even if you hate the maryland option, it is important leverage to get the D.C. site.  

I don't want the DC site.  Snyder owns Fed Ex's property and the stadium outright, he can rebuild and pony up the money for a new stadium on his own.  It is time that the public stops funding these stadiums for the sports owners who can pay for them on their own.  

Also, the DC site would be the worst for traffic and commuting in and out.  With the Fed Ex site, VA is dealing with the Wilson bridge and crossing over.  If you went to VA, the MD fans would have to deal with what those fans are dealing with now.  DC would be a massive cluster for all involved.  

[Slateman]

2 hours ago, MikeT14 said:

I wouldn't have minded a National Harbor site tbh.

If I'm Hogan (after vomitting violently because now I'm a filthy Marylander), I keep that land in my back pocket for a while. I'd like to see how the Raiders in Vegas affected the casinos and see I'd any lessons can be learned.

[turtle28]

4 hours ago, MikeT14 said:

I wouldn't have minded a National Harbor site tbh.

Me too! Hello

MGM

[turtle28]

3 hours ago, naptownskinsfan said:

I don't want the DC site.  Snyder owns Fed Ex's property and the stadium outright, he can rebuild and pony up the money for a new stadium on his own.  It is time that the public stops funding these stadiums for the sports owners who can pay for them on their own.  

Also, the DC site would be the worst for traffic and commuting in and out.  With the Fed Ex site, VA is dealing with the Wilson bridge and crossing over.  If you went to VA, the MD fans would have to deal with what those fans are dealing with now.  DC would be a massive cluster for all involved.  

Works for other sports in DC. Many people will take the Metro and hopefully they’ll do a bus service thing too.

My guess now though is they’ll be in London county now near Redskins Park.

[naptownskinsfan]

43 minutes ago, turtle28 said:

Works for other sports in DC. Many people will take the Metro and hopefully they’ll do a bus service thing too.

My guess now though is they’ll be in London county now near Redskins Park.

Yes but the other sports don't tailgate, nor do they have a 66,000 capacity stadium.  

[turtle28]

26 minutes ago, naptownskinsfan said:

Yes but the other sports don't tailgate, nor do they have a 66,000 capacity stadium.  

It’s a Sunday afternoon most games, the other sports have have games during the  week.

Also, it worked for 35 plus years at RFK before they moved to RalJohn and at Griffin Stadium before that. Not many people complained. Back then, people were happy to have the Washington Redskins actually be represented in the nations capital.

Today’s generations seem to be arguing over their own personal convenience .

[Thaiphoon]

10 hours ago, MikeT14 said:

I wouldn't have minded a National Harbor site tbh.

Me either. As long as it's in MD. I don't want it in VA (or DC).

[Thaiphoon]

5 hours ago, turtle28 said:

It’s a Sunday afternoon most games, the other sports have have games during the  week.

Also, it worked for 35 plus years at RFK before they moved to RalJohn and at Griffin Stadium before that. Not many people complained. Back then, people were happy to have the Washington Redskins actually be represented in the nations capital.

Today’s generations seem to be arguing over their own personal convenience .

Actually it (tailgating) didn't really work. No tailgating (not really). Remember, for 20 years there's been tailgating at FedEx. That's a huge tradition that will need to continue. Tailgating is synonymous with football. If we move it to only be a "metro" sport like the Wizards, you're going to lose quite a bit. And there will certainly be a reason to move it back down to 55k max capacity. Because for me and quite literally tens of thousands of Redskins fans who go to the games (I know I can see them in the parking lot), the tailgating experience is probably the best part of a Redskins game (most games).

If you're arguing that it was just fine back in the 1980's and people still went to RFK, I will tell you that there's lots of things that weren't around back then to compete with people's entertainment options like there are today. The gameday experience already is expensive and sucks (inside the stadium). People already have the Red Zone Channel and NFL Sunday Ticket and can do it from the privacy of their own home where they 

a) don't have to wait for food

b) don't have to wait in line to go to the bathroom

c) can pause and rewind the play

d) are home the moment the game is over

Eliminating a key part of the gameday experience in search of moving it back to DC to catch some nostalgia that ain't coming back is not a great business move. Sure it will play for a year or two with the whole marketing "we're back" schtick. But after that? You're gonna sanitize the experience to make it like going to a Wizards game. And while I like watching pro basketball, you couldn't pay me to go to one. It's boring.

Oh and it's not London County...it's Loudoun County. And I don't want it out near me either. Too much traffic on game days.

 

10 hours ago, naptownskinsfan said:

I don't want the DC site.  Snyder owns Fed Ex's property and the stadium outright, he can rebuild and pony up the money for a new stadium on his own.  It is time that the public stops funding these stadiums for the sports owners who can pay for them on their own.  

Also, the DC site would be the worst for traffic and commuting in and out.  With the Fed Ex site, VA is dealing with the Wilson bridge and crossing over.  If you went to VA, the MD fans would have to deal with what those fans are dealing with now.  DC would be a massive cluster for all involved.  

I'm with you on publicly funding the site. I think these guys should fork over the $$ for it. Not families. Especially when its the owners making the $$ off the stadium.

As for traffic, we're sympatico here too. I don't mind going across the Wilson bridge. Where the Redskins currently play is perfect IMHO. It's right on a major North/South artery of the East Coast (I-95). There are literally 8-10 lanes of traffic to carry the traffic coming out of the stadium. And the stadium is 2 miles from it. AND...it's metro accessible.

Putting it in VA would make it worse than were it is.

And DC is a disaster in terms of traffic. I don't even like going into the city now as it is. Takes too long to get anywhere and traffic is always a mess. Now add in about 20,000 more vehicles trying to get into the stadium area. Not a good move to try to recapture old glory.