RICHMOND, Va. -- Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney announced on Thursday that the city and the Washington Redskins reached an agreement that will eliminate the money Richmond pays the team for its training camp expenses.
The agreement relieves the city of over $650,000 they may have owed the team under the original pact which brought the Redskins training camp to Richmond back in 2013.
“We’re pleased we were able to negotiate this relief for the city,” Mayor Stoney said. “We value the investments and contributions the team has made in our community and look forward to continuing our work together this year and further exploring ways to grow our partnership.”
Under the original agreement, Richmond's Economic Development Authority agreed to pay the Redskins to help offset the team’s expenses in holding their annual training camp at the Bon Secours Facility near the Science Museum of Virginia. City officials were hoping to generate their own revenue through sales taxes raised by the business that the camp was expected to generate.
But those projections never happened, and Richmond has been on the hook for the balance, which has a cap of $500,000 per year, ever since.
The partnership has led to generous charitable initiatives by the team that have resulted in the construction of new playgrounds and high school football facilities, the implementation of high-impact educational programs in elementary and high schools and donations of sports equipment.
There is one year remaining on the deal, and the NFL is planning on moving forward with their schedule to start their season in early September.
The Redskins have the option of extending the deal beyond this season, but that will be up to new head coach Ron Rivera who has yet to visit the Richmond facility. He was scheduled to make a stop in March, but that was canceled due to the coronavirus outbreak.
The Washington Redskins are worth more than $3 billion, according to data analyzed by Forbes.
