Battle over new stadium for Redskins heats up

WASHINGTON - In the past few months, we have seen NFL teams jockey for new homes. The Rams and Chargers have found new homes in Los Angeles while the Raiders could be on the move to Las Vegas. Are the Redskins next?

Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe has long made it known that he would like the Washington Redskins to call Virginia home. McAuliffe says he can make the move happen without any burden on taxpayers.

"There were no taxpayer dollars involved," he said. "You do development rights around the stadium. It's got to work for the Redskins. It's got to work for the taxpayers around the commonwealth of Virginia."

McAuliffe believes that having the Redskins stadium in Virginia could be a compliment to what he describes as Virginia's "booming" economy. He compared his proposal to what was done in Los Angeles with the Rams when the decision was made to leave St. Louis and move to their eventual new stadium in Inglewood.

McAuliffe referenced conversations with the Redskins owners Dan Snyder, Robert Rothman and Dwight Shar saying, "It would be great for the Redskins, it would be great for the commonwealth of Virginia, so Dan knows where I am and I have talked to Dan and Bob and Dwight, the owners of it. Now, their lease isn't up until 2027 so they do have some time, but we have been in active negotiations, but we don't need taxpayer dollars."

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser reacted to McAuliffe's claims with speculation. Bowser explained, "I don't think that there can be, in any case, in D.C., Maryland or Virginia, a stadium built without taxpayers supporting infrastructure." She further clarified, "Terry is parsing the stadium from the infrastructure."