The numbers from the D.C. Council-backed evaluation of the land swap deal for the D.C. United stadium project have begun to leak, and on their face they are not good for D.C. United fans. According to an excerpt of the report posted by Aaron Wiener of the Washington City Paper, the current deal undervalues the Reeves Center property by $11 million and overvalues the Buzzard Point property by $19 million; after you count D.C. United's contribution and Akridge's contribution, that still leaves a gap of $25 million. The same report does note, however, that over 32 years the stadium will be a net financial positive to the District to the tune of $109 million, even taking into consideration the money spent on the land acquisition. Despite that, the majority of the Council will be focused on those front-end numbers. The full report is here, but this is the key excerpt
The crux of the report: pic.twitter.com/0HeQJVYOzA
— Aaron Wiener (@aaronwiener) November 5, 2014
Obviously, we will learn more at the roundtable discussion that is happening at noon, and most importantly we will hopefully be able to glean the opinions of the members of Council as to their support (or lack thereof) of the plan in light of these numbers. But, obviously, on the face this is not good news. However, I think that this is where D.C. United's self-proclaimed Rich Uncle, Erick Thohir, should just step in a write a check for the $25 million difference, to show that the team is willing to work with the city and doesn't want to take more than their fair share.
More coming later today.