Silber pulls Potomac Nationals stadium from agenda, deal not reached

Prince William County officials on Tuesday were to approve a deal with the Potomac Nationals baseball team’s plan to build a new stadium in Woodbridge. 

That’s not going to happen now after the team asked for the public hearing and subsequent vote to be removed from the agenda of Tuesday’s Board of County Supervisors meeting. 

Here’s the text of an email sent from the office of Prince William County Board of Supervisors Chairman At-large Corey Stewart to his fellow Board members: 

The applicant for the stadium proposal has requested this item be withdrawn from the July 18, 2017, Agenda and from further consideration.

Chairman Stewart has accepted this request and withdrawn the item from next week’s Board of County Supervisors’ Agenda.

To date, no deal has been reached to build the new 6,000 seat stadium along I-95 in Woodbridge. The Potomac Nationals imposed a deadline on county officials to hash our and an agreement for the new stadium by July, or the team would walk away from the negotiating table and look to sell the team.

Stewart is a supporter of the $35 million stadium, as is Woodbridge District Supervisor Frank Principi. The stadium would be placed on nine acres of land in his district, between a Wegmans grocery store and Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center. 

Other Supervisors, like Gainesville’s Peter Candland, have not been so supportive of elements of the deal that would force county taxpayers to be on the hook if the team would default on its agreement to pay for the stadium over 30 years.

Last month, Candland lost an effort to put the stadium to a November referendum vote, something team owner Art Silber and Major League Baseball did not want.

More on this as we have it.