Stop the Arena Coalition Responds to Governor’s “Inaccurate and Misleading” Claims

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – The Coalition to Stop the Arena at Potomac Yard today blasted as “inaccurate and misleading” Governor Youngkin’s claims about the proposed arena for the Washington Wizards and Washington Capitals at Potomac Yard. In a letter sent today to budget conferees in the General Assembly and the Governor, the group rebutted the points made by Youngkin about the arena in a March 1 letter he sent to the conferees. 

“The Governor claims the deal is a ‘first-of-its-kind partnership,’ but the truth is that it’s taken from the same playbook professional sports teams used for decades to get the public to assume the risk for their billion-dollar playgrounds,” said coalition co-founder Andrew Macdonald. “They dangle the carrot of economic development, and associated tax revenues, while threatening to move beloved local teams to other cities if their extortionate demands are not met.” 

The letter also highlighted how numerous conflicts of interest that exist among the proponents of the stadium undermine the credibility of their claims. Specifically:

• Governor Youngkin is reportedly a co-investor with Wizards and Capitals owners Ted Leonis and the Saudi government in the Professional Fighters League, a potential customer of the proposed arena;
• JP Morgan, which has been advising the Commonwealth on the arena deal, is also reportedly an advisory to the private pension fund that owns the land where the arena would be built; and
• A Board member of the Alexandria Economic Development Partnership, whose economic development projections the Governor’s letter cites, is also an executive vice president at JBG Smith, the real estate investment trust that would develop the proposed arena site.

Finally, the Coalition letter rebuts the Governor’s claim that “this project will not impact Virginia’s sterling AAA credit rating and debt capacity.” This statement contradicts the analysis provided by the Public Resources Advisory Group (PRAG), a consultant hired by the Commonwealth. The PRAG analysis concluded that backstopping nearly $577 million in debt could create “reduced debt capacity and flexibility for other projects.” 

“The longer the public and independent analysts get to consider the evidence presented about the proposed arena deal, the worse it looks for the Commonwealth,” noted the Coalition’s letter. “It is time to close the book on Governor Youngkin’s vanity project at Potomac Yard once and for all.” 

The full text of the Coalition’s letter is available here.

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The Coalition to Stop the Arena at Potomac Yard is a grassroots organization that advocates on behalf of the thousands of Alexandria and Arlington residents who would be directly impacted by the arena, the Virginians who will be negatively affected by an investment of this scale by the Commonwealth, and a bipartisan group of national advocacy groups, all of whom oppose the proposed arena deal. For more information, visit stopthearena.org.