After Prince William County flubbed the deal, the Potomac Nationals are looking for a new home in the Fredericskburg area. From the Free Lance-Star:
Rappahannock Baseball Initiative President Bobby Duke said he thinks another stadium proposal in Spotsylvania is unlikely, but that Stafford and Fredericksburg could be candidates. Some of the region’s political leaders expressed interest in talking with the team owner, but noted that any deal would have to make financial sense.
Supporters says stadium deals spur economic development, but critics say localities assume all the financial risk for the benefit of wealthy team owners.
Duke said he thinks the team may need to work out a proposal with little or no tax money involved.
“I think an owner’s going to have to, let’s be honest, sweeten the deal a little bit if they want to make one of these ventures happen,” he said.
Spotsylvania County nixed a similar deal on the basis that IDA loans — secured by small businesses but guaranteed by local governments — should not be extended to a proposed baseball stadium at Massaponax.
The problem with the logic? IDA and EDA funds (Industrial or Economic Development Authorities) are extended to just about everyone else, and despite picking winners and losers via crony capitalism in Spotsylvania, the local IDA still exists, demonstrating a sort of inconsistency that scares away both baseball and large scale economic investment.
Fredericksburg and Stafford County, on the other hand, remain open to the idea, provided the impact to the local taxpayer is minimized — precisely what private EDA loans are designed to do.
The Richmond Flying Squirrels have a 30-mile radius around their location at The Diamond where they would have to approve the move. Barring that, the Potomac Nationals have any number of opportunities to plunk down a first-rate facility around a growing intersection (and a population to support baseball), including the I-95 corridor down towards Caroline County — anywhere there is a river of cash on an interstate flowing by.
Either way, Spotsylvania County appears to be out of the deal at the moment.
