Virginia is aiming to lure the Commanders

Richmond, Va. — Virginia lawmakers are advancing a measure intended to lure the Washington Commanders to the state by allowing the NFL team to forgo what could be $1 billion or more in future tax payments to help finance a potential new football stadium.

The move, which comes a year after lawmakers gave the team preferential treatment for a lucrative sports betting permit, is intended to help Virginia secure its first major pro sports franchise and beat out Maryland and the District of Columbia as the team weighs where to go after its FedEx Field lease ends in 2027.

“They're going to go someplace. Absent some kind of incentive, they're likely not to be here," Tray Adams, a lobbyist representing the team, told a panel considering the legislation.

The team declined to respond to questions from The Associated Press regarding its seriousness about Virginia or its site plans. But lawmakers who have been briefed on the project, including some who met with team owner Daniel Snyder at his home, have described a stadium that would be part of a broader multiuse development in Loudoun or Prince William counties in suburban Washington with a resort and conference center, residences, an amphitheater and indoor concert facility.

The House and Senate passed differing versions of the measure this month with broad bipartisan support and each will now take up the other's version. Legislative leaders have said they expect the differences to be worked out by a conference committee, meaning final negotiations would happen in private.

Both versions of the legislation would create a Virginia Football Stadium Authority tasked with financing the construction of a stadium and related facilities.

The type and amount of taxes that can be recaptured varies between the two. The Senate version offers more help, allowing the capture of certain sales taxes generated across the entire campus, personal income tax revenues from stadium operations, corporate income tax revenues and pass-through entity tax revenues over 30 years.

The House version allows only for the recapture of sales tax over 20 years and would require that the team pay at least 50% of any naming rights revenues to the authority.