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Tuesday, April 30, 2019

Prince George's executive hopes to see NFL team stay in the county, but isn't a fan of Oxon Cove site

(Click on the image for Alex Koma's Washington Business Journal report)

  • Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks is optimistic Washington’s NFL team won’t be leaving her county anytime soon — but she’s less confident about the team’s prospects for staying put in FedEx Field for the long term.
  • In a recent interview with the WBJ, Alsobrooks reiterated her desire to see Dan Snyder’s team stick around somewhere in Prince George’s, rather than fleeing back to its original home in the District when 2027 rolls around and the team's lease on FedEx expires
  • But Alsobrooks, a Democrat, cautioned that her desire to see the team stay local does “not necessarily” mean she favors the Oxon Cove site once pitched by Gov. Larry Hogan. 
  • The Republican pitched a complex plan in December to acquire a 300-acre parcel adjacent to the MGM National Harbor resort for the stadium, converting federal park land into space for a 60,000-seat venue in the process. But that move irked state and local officials alike, and he publicly cut off negotiations with Snyder in February.
  • Some earlier reporting suggested that Alsobrooks and other county officials would then take the lead in brokering a deal with the team instead to keep hopes at Oxon Cove alive. Yet Alsobrooks firmly threw cold water on the idea that the county is looking to pick up where Hogan left off.
  • “That land doesn’t even belong to us yet,” Alsobrooks said. “That land is federally held, so there will be lots of things left to happen at this point. The community would have to decide if Oxon Cove is a place where they’d be interested in adding that use or some other use. It’s very valuable land, it’s a beautiful location and we would not make that decision without significant public input on how that land is used.”