RICHMOND, Va. — Gov. Glen Youngkin is reviving talk of a new Washington Commanders stadium in Virginia.
Tucked away in Youngkin’s billions of dollars of proposed budget amendments is proposal 336.
"Develop plan for relocation of Washington Commanders," the one-line proposal says.
The proposal calls for $500,000 to “provide funding for the Secretary of Finance to conduct planning and evaluate potential economic incentives related to the potential relocation of the Washington Commanders to the Commonwealth of Virginia.”
The proposal goes on to say that all economic incentives included in the stadium plan must be "developed in the best interest of Virginia taxpayers.”
Building a new Commanders stadium in the Commonwealth is an idea Youngkin has pushed since he took office. He doubled down, even after state lawmakers killed a $300 million stadium tax incentive plan over the summer.
"The legislature has decided to pass on this for the time being, there are some issues that need to be resolved," the governor said in June. "Should those issues get resolved, I'd like to pick this back up."
The stadium plan steadily lost support in 2022 amid sexual harassment and financial mismanagement investigations against team owner Daniel Snyder. But with Snyder considering selling the team, one potential roadblock to a partnership could be removed.
But others remain, such as traffic.
State Senator Jeremy McPike (D), who represents parts of Prince William County that are on the Commanders list of potential stadium sites, said he plans to put it in a budget amendment to strike and remove the stadium study funding from the budget when lawmakers consider the proposal in January.
“This is one of the things ‘here we go, again’ without tackling the most important issue to any community, which is traffic and transportation,” McPike said. “And the governor has missed it."
But State Senator Scott Surovell (D), who also represents parts of Prince William County, sees no downside in the governor’s plan, adding the state paid for similar studies when considering legalizing casinos and marijuana.
“I don't think gathering information, there's anything wrong with that,” Surovell said. “It just says let's get some more information to see what might be feasible, whether these revenue projections are accurate."
In a statement, the Commanders told WUSA9, "We applaud any and all efforts taken by local officials to determine how the vision of our new venue can dramatically support the community, jobs and inclusive economic development growth objectives in any given jurisdiction."
All this comes as two other NFL teams - the Buffalo Bills and Tennessee Titans - got taxpayer-funded stadium projects approved.