OPINION:
We can dispense with the title of “Mayor” for Muriel Bowser and change it to “Queen of Washington.” Like a Roman emperor, she has delivered games to the mob, and they’ll love her for it.
She has brought the Washington football franchise — perhaps the most beloved institution in the history of the District — back to the city after a nearly 30-year absence. All that is left to complete her legacy is a second vote by the D.C. Council next month, a pro forma action after the council voted 9-3 on Friday to approve the $3.7 billion stadium on the RFK campus.
“The era of a crumbling sea of asphalt on the banks of the Anacostia is finally coming to an end,” Ms. Bowser said. “In its place, we will bring our team home and deliver a state-of-the-art, Super Bowl-ready stadium for our Commanders.”
Ms. Bowser isn’t elevating herself to legendary status in the city just by bringing back the NFL team that in 1997 left for suburban Maryland after 60 years in the District. She also kept Monumental Sports and two of its sports teams, the Wizards and Capitals, from leaving town last year for a short trip across the Potomac River.
That’s a 10-month hat trick that likely has never been matched in any city in America.
“We’re keeping Washington’s teams where they belong — here in the Sports Capital, and we’re doubling down on having a world-class destination and entertainment district in the center of D.C.,” Ms. Bowser said in a news release in October touting the public-private partnership with Monumental Sports. “We know that when our downtown does well, our city does well. This catalytic investment is an investment in our residents and businesses in all eight wards.”
Granted, it was Ms. Bowser’s negligence for failing to pay heed to owner Ted Leonsis’ complaints about Capital One Arena that sent him looking for greener pastures for his NBA and NHL teams at a new Potomac Yard site in Alexandria. But instead of surrendering while Leonsis and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin danced on the city’s grave, Ms. Bowser learned that these two geniuses were celebrating without a signed contract. She went to work on Leonsis behind the scenes, and when the Virginia deal fell apart due to Mr. Youngkin’s clumsy politics, Ms. Bowser stepped in with a $515 million sale-leaseback deal to help Leonsis renovate and update Capital One Arena and a new lease to keep the teams in the city until 2050.
Between the $1.1 billion the city will be spending on the Commanders football stadium project and the $515 million for Monumental Sports’ Capital One Arena, that’s a hefty handout for games. But Ms. Bowser understands the mob. It’s something the pencil-neck numbers-crunchers who rail against public funding of any sport for any sports franchise can’t seem to comprehend. Their formulas never account for the psychological impact these sports teams have on a city. It may be maddening; it may be nonsensical. But it is undeniable that in America today, the profile of any major city is defined by its sports teams as much as anything, and there may be no greater example than Washington, the nation’s capital that for years has been trying to establish a presence separate from the federal government.
Take Major League Baseball, for example. The Senators left Washington following the 1971 season, moving to Arlington, Texas. City officials and business leaders spent the next 34 years and millions of dollars — different generations of officials and leaders — trying to bring baseball back to the District, even though there was another team 35 miles up the road in Baltimore that was very successful and appeared to fill the void for many Washington-area baseball fans. The District would spend $600 million for a new stadium that opened in 2008 for the relocated Montreal Expos.
Let’s look at the aborted move by the Wizards and Capitals to Northern Virginia — just six miles from their current home. There was such an outcry about the move you would have thought they were moving to Argentina.
Finally, the crown jewel — the Commanders. The team played just nine miles away from their hallowed RFK home. But fans never accepted the new Landover stadium, and city officials spent years planning ways to bring the team back to the District — including two Olympic bids in which a new stadium built for the games would be used to lure the team back home.
The alternative — losing sports teams — can define a politician’s legacy as well. Just ask Sharon Pratt Kelly, who as D.C. mayor from 1991 to 1995 has always been unfairly blamed for the team leaving the city. (Her predecessor Marion Barry also failed to reach an agreement with owner Jack Kent Cooke for a new stadium in the city.)
If Ms. Kelly had made the kind of offer to Cooke that Ms. Bowser did to Josh Harris and his band of saviors — handing over acres of prime real estate for the Commanders to develop and profit from in an unprecedented public-private stadium agreement — Cooke would have had flowers delivered daily to Ms. Kelly’s office to apologize for patting the mayor on her rear end. It’s a remarkable giveaway by the city.
But are you not entertained?
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