Steve Burns
WMAL.com
WASHINGTON – (WMAL) Potomac Nationals owner Art Silber has signaled a deal to build a new stadium for his team in Prince William County is dead, and the search is on to find a new home for the team. Among the possible locations, Silber said, are Fairfax and Loudoun Counties, along with North Carolina. That means the competition to win the High-A Minor League ballclub is heating up.
“As far as Loudoun County’s perspective on it, I think we’d be certainly open to talks,” Loudoun County supervisor Ron Meyer told WMAL.
Loudoun already has two baseball stadium sites primed and ready, Meyer said, thanks to its earlier talks with the independent Atlantic League to bring a team to the county. Those discussions are still in flux, Meyer said.
The challenge in Loudoun is the same one that derailed talks in Prince William County: stadium financing. Silber appeared to pull the deal after it became clear his proposal would not have enough votes to pass in the Prince William Board of Supervisors’ vote next week.
“I believe that this is a bad deal for taxpayers,” Prince William Supervisor Pete Candland told WMAL. “As of right now, (Silber) is not putting in a dime.”
Candland said relocating a team could take up to two years, during which the county may be open to re-starting a discussion to keep the team, but only if Silber is willing to “put some skin into the game.”
“If they were able to come to a deal that made sense, that provided more protections to the taxpayers, then I think it’s something that we can definitely consider.”
The plan on the table previously in Prince William County funded a new stadium at the Stonebridge at Potomac Town Center development through $35 million in bonds. The team was to have paid the county back over the full term of its 30-year lease.
The P-Nats currently play in 33-year-old Pfitzner Stadium. Minor League Baseball had ordered Silber to get the team a new home by 2019, otherwise he would likely lose control of the team ahead of a possible relocation.
Meyer said the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors would likely also be against funding a new stadium with taxpayer dollars, but there are other options.
“If it’s possible anywhere to mostly privately finance a stadium, it’s in Northern Virginia and frankly, it’s in Loudoun County,” Meyer said. “There’s such a high demand for a fun, family-friendly, veteran-friendly atmosphere in Loudoun County, that I have no doubt that private financing is possible.”
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