Thanks To City Council, DC United In Dire Straits Again February 15, 2008
Posted by Reginald Johnson in Business, Soccer, Sports.add a comment
Yesterday in Washington, Mayor Adrian Fenty announced that there is still no deal in using public funds to build a professional soccer stadium in Anacostia’s Popular Point. Poplar Point is located in southeast Washington. He seemed upbeat, yet firm, that even though the city and the Major League Soccer team, DC United, has yet to seal a deal, the two entities should still work together to meet an empass.
The stadium that DC United is interested in building would cost as much as $190 million in public money. $150 million would be in construction bonds and $40 million in land leased to the D.C. United soccer franchise.
Fenty met with the D.C. Council early yesterday in a private and brief meeting. The mayor said, “The District has been collecting $20 million a year in excess revenue from city taxes related to the financing of the baseball stadium.”
The democratic mayor would rather use the additional funds to assist in construction bonds for a 27,000-seat soccer stadium for United. This is considered controversial in the business community because the city has been paying additional taxes since 2004 toward the baseball project. The District instead could choose to use the excess tax money to retire the 30-year baseball stadium bonds early, city officials commented.
When asked how he would square supporting public dollars for a soccer stadium against his previous stance on baseball, Fenty said his position had been misrepresented.
“No one ever said there could not be public dollars” for baseball, Fenty said. “We said it had to be a fair deal. The baseball deal was completely one-sided. I would never support a deal that is 100 percent city-funded. I would support a deal that is a public-private partnership. Have we seen that deal yet? No.”
Sources close to D.C. United said that under the latest stadium proposal the team would contribute “significant equity” to the project.
The mayor also announced at the news conference that he has selected Clark Realty Capital, a Bethesda-based company, as the master developer of Poplar Point.
When asked about the discussions in the meeting, council member Marion Barry (D-Ward 8), who has backed a stadium, said: “My understanding is that a stadium will be part of the deal. The community has been empowered and their voices heard.”
D.C. United has been threatening to move to Prince George’s County after Fenty broke off informal negotiations with team owner Victor B. MacFarlane in July. Fenty thought MacFarlane’s plan, which required $350 million in public subsidies for infrastructure, was too expensive for the city.
Fenty stressed that he is very interested in keeping the United in the District. But personally, he has feared supporting a publicly financed soccer stadium lest he become embroiled in the kind of bitter, lengthy political fight that his predecessor, Anthony A. Williams, waged over the baseball stadium project.
DC United is known as the most successful team in Major League Soccer, the United States’ top tier for professional soccer/futbol. DC United has been playing all of their games at RFK Stadium since it’s inception.
Supporters of the United greatly want the United to remain in the District. Only time will tell if the city council and the DC United management will reach an accord to keep the lucrative franchise within the beltway.
