Washington Commanders Would Lose Stadium Tax Break Under Proposed Legislation

WASHINGTON, DC — Three members of Congress have proposed a bill that would end tax-exempt status for public bonds used to finance billion-dollar sports stadiums like the one the Washington Commanders seek.

U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-Virginia), who chairs the House Joint Economic Committee, joined two congressional colleagues in introducing a bill to eliminate tax-exempt status for municipal bonds that help finance professional sports stadiums, according to a release.

“Super-rich sports team owners like Dan Snyder do not need federal support to build their stadiums, and taxpayers should not be forced to fund them,” Beyer said, in the release. “Billionaire owners who need cash can borrow from the market like any other business. Arguments that stadiums boost job creation have been repeatedly discredited. In a time when there is a debate over whether the country can ‘afford’ investments in health care, child care, education, or fighting climate change, it is ridiculous to even contemplate such a radical misuse of publicly subsidized bonds.”

Dan Snyder, owner of the District's NFL franchise, has not hidden his desire to build a new stadium for the newly rebranded Washington Commanders.

Last week, both the Senate and House of Delegates in the Virginia General Assembly passed bills to establish the creation of a stadium authority, with the aim of building a $1 billion stadium complex to lure the Commanders to Northern Virginia, according to the Washington Post.

Not to be outdone, Maryland lawmakers are proposing a publicly financed development near FedEx's current home, the Post reported.

Beyer along with U.S. Rep Jackie Speier (D-California), co-chair of the Democratic Women’s Caucus and member of the Oversight Committee; and Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-Oregon), a member of the Ways and Means Committee, introduced the No Tax Subsidies for Stadiums Act of 2022 on Tuesday. The rationale behind the bill is to end the tax-exempt status on publicly-funded bonds that billionaire team owners use to finance new stadiums, according to the release.

“There is no reason why these teams — the average of which went up in value to $3.48 billion in 2021, according to Forbes — should have American taxpayers footing any of their bills. It doesn’t make economic sense, and it’s particularly galling given the league’s longstanding failure to address issues of sexual harassment and sexual assault as well as on-going racial and gender discrimination and domestic violence," Speir said, in the real

The District's NFL franchise has been the subject of an ongoing investigation following accusations of sexual harassment by 15 former female employees in 2020.

Earl Ash, deputy director of Public Policy for Sports Fans Coalition, voiced his organization's support for the new bill.

"There is no reason why a Montana sports fan should have to fund a sports stadium two states away, let alone any taxpayer subsidize a stadium anywhere," he said.

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