The Washington PostDemocracy Dies in Darkness

Opinion The Potomac Yard arena pipe dream

March 21, 2024 at 5:16 p.m. EDT
Washington Wizards and Capitals owner Ted Leonsis, left, joins Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) in announcing plans for a new sports arena in Alexandria on Dec. 13. (John McDonnell/The Washington Post)

Regarding the March 15 front-page article “$75 to park and rooms for $730 in arena plan”:

If the Potomac Yard arena and development proposal is such a good deal for Virginia taxpayers, as Ted Leonsis and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) have insisted, why aren’t they funding it privately? Between them, they have lots of money and connections to hedge funds and other financial sources. They could issue bonds or stock. If the arena backers really believe that visitors will pay $730 nightly rates for hotel rooms and $75 to park, those sources of revenue would be attractive elements of such an offering.

Athletic teams are fungible. They can be bought and sold or moved to somewhere else: The Washington Senators were a case in point. Arenas, on the other hand, are immobile — once built, they tend to stay put until they deteriorate and are torn down.

This proposal looks to me like one more example of public risk, private gain.

Lawrence D. Powers, Springfield

Regarding the March 10 front-page article “Leonsis met arena opponent, but fate was already sealed”:

How many readers recognized the name of Virginia state Sen. L. Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth) before her “badass” opposition derailed the plan to move the Washington Capitals and Wizards to a new home in Alexandra? Senator, I salute you!

Although I do not attend the games of these Washington teams, I have been carefully following Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s (R) efforts to bring these teams to Virginia to fill the coffers of his state and make the fans pay exorbitant prices for the privilege of traveling to Virginia.

But Ms. Lucas’s good sense not to enhance one municipality by bringing ruin to another has prevailed. D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) should definitely declare a “Senator Lucas Day.” And voters, take note: We seniors are forces to be reckoned with because we not only have experience; we also have common sense.

Alice L. Haber, Frederick