Mayor Adrian Fenty (D) thus far hasn’t shown himself to be a gambling man. His plan to finance a professional soccer stadium with money intended for debt repayment, however, would throw Washington’s future on a roulette wheel.
Rather than use an estimated $20 million in predicted annual excess revenues from the new Nationals’ ballpark to pay off debt the city incurred by building the $611 million baseball stadium, Fenty has proposed investing the funds in the creation of a stadium for D.C. United, the District’s Major League Soccer team.
D.C.’s Chief Financial Officer, Natwar Gandhi, predicted that the excess ballpark revenues will begin accumulating in 2011. But as he wrote in a February 7 memo to Fenty, the projected excess revenues could be jeopardized by “poor team performance” or “possible player strikes or owners’ lockouts.”
Betting on such a risky source of public funds to finance another massive, debt-incurring project like a $230 million soccer stadium might be good for sports, but it’s dangerous for the city.
If D.C. puts the excess ballpark revenues toward paying off the debt from the Nationals stadium, the ballpark bonds could be paid off an estimated ten years early, by 2026. Washington’s substantial debt already weakens the city financially, so the ballpark funds should be used to pay off one source of debt as quickly as possible.
Using the baseball revenue for the soccer stadium also breaks a promise made to neighborhood businesses affected by the baseball tax.
“When we agreed to the stadium tax, the business community was promised that excess stadium revenues would be used to pay off the stadium and end the tax earlier,” said the President and CEO of the DC Chamber of Commerce, Barbara Lang.
The soccer stadium could bring an economic boom to its neighborhood, but ensuring the financial health of the city’s budget and programs for its citizens must come first.
Fenty has not yet committed to using the excess revenues for the soccer stadium, so now is the time for concerned residents of D.C. to speak out against the plan. D.C. needs to have its priorities straight when it comes to investment. Fenty’s risky proposal threatens the city’s finances and services, so the mayor should find another way to pay for the soccer stadium.
