Post article on the same subject:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2023/06/23/monumental-nationals-dc-bowser/Mentions that Monumental has $35 million left on its ground lease, which it can pay off before 2027. Talks about the crime rate being an issue. However, Monumental also talks up the $80 million in plans for new media studios at Cap One. Mendelson seems to be the person in government trying to make things work with Monumental. Leonsis and Bowser are frosty to each other.
With respect to the Nats and NAts Park finances:
In 2005, D.C. created a special pot of money, the Ballpark Revenue Fund, to pay certain costs of the development, construction and renovation of a stadium. Now the city uses the BRF to pay down the municipal bonds that funded the construction of Nationals Park.
The money in the BRF comes from four main sources, according to a spokesperson for the city’s chief financial officer. The largest by far is the ballpark tax ($41.9 million in the 2022 fiscal year, according to a February 2023 report). The other three are taxes on sales at Nationals Park ($12.4 million in 2022), public utilities ($7.1 million) and telecommunication companies ($2.3 million).
...
But as the city nears full repayment of its baseball bonds — which could happen as early as 2028, according to the CFO’s spokesperson — the Nationals may have to fight others interested in BRF funds. Once the bonds are fully paid off, the ballpark tax will “sunset and no longer be in effect,” the spokesperson wrote in an email to The Post. But the other taxes will remain in effect, and the city could decide to “to repurpose these funds for other initiatives, including funding other sports arenas.”
