Prime Spot For Redskins Stadium In Virginia Could Sell Fast

LANDOVER, MD — The ongoing speculation about where the Washington Redskins will build a new stadium ratcheted up this week with reports that a big parcel of open land in Loudon County, Virginia — seen by politicians and business leaders in that area as the best fit for the NFL team — is drawing interest from myriad possible buyers.

Headquarters and practice fields for the Washington Redskins are in Ashburn, Virginia, although team owner Dan Snyder lives in Potomac, Maryland. Since 1997, FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland, has been the team’s home stadium; a lease on that stadium is up in 2027.

Loudon County leaders have told local media that a 280-acre site for sale near the future Loudoun Gateway Metro Station should sell quickly. Supervisor Ron Meyer of Broad Run told the Loudon Times-Mirror that multiple parties are interested in the land, and he has spoken to representatives from the International Citydevelopment and data center industries about the site.

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“There’s really only one site that makes sense for [the Redskins] with all the things that they mentioned: Metro accessibility, enough land and land that’s not currently being used or planned to be used in some other way … 606 Loudoun Gateway,” Meyer told the newspaper.

Redskins President Bruce Allen said that the process of building the team’s new stadium will begin very soon. Allen also said Washington, D.C., Virginia and Maryland were still being considered for potential sites for its new stadium. He did not say which location the team favored. The Redskins’ lease at the FedEx Field in Maryland expires in 2027. Redskins Senior Vice President Tony Wyllie told the Times-Mirror the Resdskins have not disclosed any of the sites they are considering.

Will Redskins Leave Maryland?

On an ESPN show last August, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe said that most of the NFL team’s season ticket holders live in Virginia, and the players all live in Virginia, while two-thirds of the revenue comes from Virginia fans. His state is in "very serious negotiations" with the team, he said then.

“I view this as a Virginia team,” he said, according to The Washington Post. “We’re in very serious negotiations, as I assume other jurisdictions are. Listen, we would love to have them.”

»Are the Washington Redskins a Maryland, Viriginia or DC team? Tell us in comments below.

The lease for FedEx Field runs through 2027, but Snyder has already commissioned Danish firm Bjarke Ingels Group, which has released potential stadium designs. Washington, D.C., and Maryland officials also want to explore a new stadium as a way to lure or retain the Redskins.

The ESPN interview mentioned the readily available land for a stadium and its vast parking lots, along with economic development around Tysons Corner, Reston, and near Dulles Airport with the planned Silver Line extension.

“I think those areas would be great places for a new stadium,” McAuliffe said, adding that a stadium would have to be near a Metro stop.

A design for a new stadium released over a year ago by Bjarke Ingels Group shows the venue surrounded by a semi-transparent skin and a moat. Architects say the stadium would hold 100,000 people, with parks and pedestrian bridges built in to cater to tailgating fans.

Year-round uses for the venue are built in, said Ingels, with people surfing on the moat in the summer, then ice-skating and playing hockey on the frozen water in the winter.

A February 2015 story by ProPlayer Insiders suggested that the best Maryland site for a new Redskins stadium would be the National Harbor area in Prince George’s County. Plenty of flat land behind Oxon Hill Farm overlooks both the District and Alexandria, Virginia, giving Virginia fans quick access to the site.
MGM National Harbor, the $1.3 billion, 23-acre resort casino under development there, will open in the fourth quarter of 2016.

Last year, McAuliffe pitched multiple sites for a stadium along the unbuilt second leg of Metro’s Silver Line, the Washington Post reported. The first leg of the Silver Line opened in 2015 between Falls Church and Reston; the second leg is projected to open in 2018.

The second leg will include a stop at Dulles Airport and run west to two more stops along the Dulles Greenway.

A poll conducted by CBSDC.com in 2015 found that of the three locales where Redskin fans live — Virginia, Maryland and the District — most respondents would favor the team moving back to the District. The Redskins played at RFK Stadium from 1961 to 1996 before the move to Maryland.

Forbes magazine says the Redskins are the third-most valuable team in the league, worth $2.85 billion, thanks to a wealthy and passionate fan base, NFL TV deals and a $205 million stadium naming rights agreement with FedEx.