Senate Majority Leader Dick Saslaw (D-Fairfax) was one the biggest supporters of bringing the Washington Commanders’ football team to Virginia. He has now withdrawn his bill in the Senate supporting the team relocating to Virginia.
DC legislators have also announced they would not support the team coming to Washington. (The Redskin’s former RFK stadium in the city would seem to be the best, most central location, for the team. Tear down the old stadium and build a new one.)
From the washingtonpost.com:
Senate Majority Leader Richard L. Saslaw (D-Fairfax) said comments that Commanders defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio�made this week�about the Jan. 6 insurrection were the last straw for the stadium bill. Del Rio had called the storming of the U.S. Capitol building a �dust-up� compared to the racial justice protests that followed the death of George Floyd in 2020.
�This obviously was not very helpful, to put it mildly, but there�s so many other things out there,� Saslaw said, referring to investigations into allegations of sexual harassment and financial mismanagement by the team and its owner Daniel Snyder. �There were just so many things out there that a lot of people are saying, �Saslaw, this thing needs to wait.��
Commander’s owner Dan Snyder has spent $100 million to buy 200 acres of land in Prince William County to build a stadium with a mini-city surrounding it. That won’t happen unless the General Assembly changes its mind in the future and passes a bill to help fund the stadium in Virginia.