WASHINGTON (WMAL) – The Potomac Nationals will sign an extension to their current lease for Pfitzner Stadium that allows them to stay there through 2020. The lease originally expired in December of 2018.
The Prince William County Board of Supervisors voted 5 to 3 Tuesday night to extend the lease for two years.
Supervisor Pete Canland voted against the extension. He said the provisions allow the P-Nats to break the lease at any time with few consequences other than requiring the team to pay a percentage of the stadium’s electric bill.
“This is a bad deal for Prince William County. I think that this is one of the biggest sweetheart deals that you can come up with,” Canland said.
The P-Nats have long said Pfitzner Stadium, built in 1984, no longer meets the team’s needs.
A deal to build a new stadium with financing from bonds issued by the county fell apart in July.
Now team owner Art Silber is working with the county on a deal deal that would use private money to build a new stadium. He told Inside Nova the extra time at Pfitzner is needed to give him time to seal that deal.
“We’re very confident that, with the right location and the right circumstances, we can still make something happen,” Silber told Inside Nova.
Minor League Baseball has been giving the team waivers, also known as variances, to continue playing at Pfitzner despite its condition not being up to league standards.
Supervisor Ruth Anderson expressed concern about approving the lease extension before they knew if the league would continue to issue waivers to the team.
At a meeting in June, MiLB President Pat O’Conner told the board his league is negotiating a new agreement with Major League Baseball in the next two to three years that will include new standards for fields, which he said would not be friendly for Pfitzner’s future.
Copyright 2017 by WMAL.com. All Rights Reserved. (Photo: Prince William County Government Office)
