‘These are serious allegations’: Virginia lawmakers weigh in on plans to lure Washington Commanders

Amid new allegations against the NFL’s Washington Commanders, one state legislator believes it’s time to take a step back on negotiations to bring the professional football team to Virginia.

The U.S. Committee on Oversight and Reform launched an investigation into the Commanders last year over alleged workplace misconduct. In an April 12 letter to the Federal Trade Commission, the committee wrote that senior executives and the team’s owner, Daniel Snyder, may have engaged in a “troubling, long-running, and potentially unlawful pattern of financial conduct.”

“These are serious allegations,” Del. Cliff Hayes, D-Chesapeake, told The Virginian Pilot. “I think we need to have some deep investigative work done on our part before we move forward.”

The committee’s allegations — which the Commanders have refuted — come as some Virginia lawmakers are working to lure the team to the state. During the recent legislative session, the House of Delegates and state Senate passed differing versions of a bill that would clear the way for a stadium to be built for the team. The measures are under negotiation in a conference committee.

However, Hayes, a conference committee member, said that, in light of the allegations raised by the oversight committee, bringing the team to Virginia should not be a priority for lawmakers.

“We have a fiduciary responsibility to the taxpayers of the commonwealth, so as we move forward with the (congressional committee’s) reports, that will be the posture by which I address any of it,” he said.

Del. Barry Knight, who carried the bill in the House and also sits on the conference committee, told The Pilot he needed to look into the allegations further before he could weigh in on them. The Virginia Beach Republican said he always maintained that Virginia should only move forward with the stadium legislation if it’s in the state’s best interest.

“We will hash out those things in conference but I am focused on the budget right now, so I haven’t done a deep dive on it,” said Knight, who also sits on a conference committee tasked with resolving a roughly $3 billion difference between proposed budget plans from the House and Senate.

In its letter to the FTC, the congressional committee wrote that Commanders executives may have withheld up to $5 million in refundable security deposits owed to customers upon the expiration of their multiyear seat leases.

The letter also stated the Commanders may have also concealed revenue that was owed to the NFL by maintaining two sets of books — one with underreported ticket revenue that was shared with the NFL, and the other with accurate revenue reports that was shared with Snyder.

“Documents indicate that the revenue gained by the team through these practices was known internally as ‘juice,’” the letter states.

The Commanders refuted the allegations Monday, writing in a letter to the FTC that the federal committee never contacted the team and relied heavily on “false testimony” from a disgruntled former employee.

“Had the Committee requested any information from the Team on the issues raised in the Committee’s letter, the Team could, and would, have provided testimony and documents making clear that the complained-of conduct did not occur,” the letter states.

Both bills from the General Assembly would establish an authority tasked with overseeing the financing and construction of a stadium and surrounding facilities, such as hotels, restaurants and parking garages. The bills would allow the authority to sell bonds to help fund the project, and permit the team to recapture some of the sales tax on items bought within the complex.

But the Senate bill, introduced by Majority Leader Dick Saslaw, was more generous to the Commanders, offering additional tax incentives and allowing the team to keep all the money from the stadium’s naming rights deal.

Saslaw declined to speak with The Pilot. But the senator told a Senate committee in January that the stadium complex would be beneficial for the state. He said it would generate an estimated $153 million in annual tax revenue — $60 million would be retained by the state’s general fund, $59 million by the locality, and $34 million would go to bond repayment.

The Commanders’ current lease at FedEx Field in Landover, Md., expires after the 2027 season.

Katie King, katie.king@virginiamedia.com, 757-835-1487