Vernon Davis catches a pass during last year’s training camp at the Bon Secours Washington Redskins Training Center. (Photo courtesy Washington Redskins)
During the Washington Redskins’ stay in Richmond through Aug. 11, fans will have an opportunity to see the NFL team work toward what ESPN is calling its top off-season goal — developing rookie quarterback Dwayne Haskins.
For fan Chris Woody and his family, a visit to the Bon Secours Washington Redskins Training Camp means being in proximity to the players and coaches they see in televised games during the regular season. This year, he says, the team has younger players with a lot of energy.
“It’s great because my kids have the opportunity to be out there with them,” says Woody, a father of four who is also commissioner of the Henrico County-based Metropolitan Youth Football League. “We’re always the last ones out there.”
During the two-plus weeks of training camp, 33,000 visitors are expected, according to a March report on the economic impact of the camp and associated development prepared by the Center for Urban and Regional Analysis at Virginia Commonwealth University’s L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs.
Another enthusiastic attendee is Powhatan resident Michelle Ullman Robinson, who has participated in Moms Football Safety Clinics presented by the training camp for parents of players in recreational leagues, putting her in contact with pros such as Chris Cooley and Tony Bergstrom.
“They teach us moves the kids [use] to protect themselves from concussions,” she says. “We hang out at the touchdown line, and the players talk to us and do autographs. It’s so much fun.”
Source: Bon Secours Redskins Economic and Fiscal Impact of Training Camp and Associated Development
Despite the appeal for football fans, city leaders are reconsidering the viability of the training camp. Under the eight-year contract, which expires Dec. 31, 2020, the Redskins have the right to extend the agreement, but the city will no longer be contractually obligated to make an annual $500,000 contribution to the team.
“While we appreciate the Redskins holding training camp in the city of Richmond, the mayor has made it clear that he will not support any future agreement with the team that requires a local cash contribution from the city,” Jim Nolan, press secretary for Mayor Levar Stoney, says in an email.
VCU’s report estimates the economic impact of the project at $47 million from 2013 to 2020, breaking that down into visitor spending, revenue generated through the SMG group’s management of the Leigh Street site and rent payments. In 2012, city officials had estimated a yearly economic impact of $8.5 million, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
Redskins officials say that by 2020, the team — valued by Forbes at $3.1 billion — will have made more than $1.3 million in charitable contributions to the Richmond community.
The VCU report shows that during the period of the contract, 2013 to 2020, costs for the training camp and associated development — including a $10 million loan the city obtained to pay for construction — exceeded revenues by nearly $4 million. The project, which includes the former Westhampton school site on Patterson Avenue, is expected to start seeing revenues outpace expenses by 2023, with a net benefit of $14.2 million by 2033, according to the report. Even if the training camp does not continue, “it serves as the catalyst for associated development agreements with [Bon Secours Health System] that will have continuing impacts.”
Kim Gray, the 2nd District representative on City Council, would have liked to see Richmond’s resources allocated differently.
“[The city used] a critical school property,” Gray says. “There has not been any solid benefit to students. They don’t really have access to the [training] facility. … Children should not be an afterthought.”
In contrast, John Cario, general manager and area vice president of Hilton Richmond Downtown, calls the training camp “one more feather in the cap to put Richmond on the visitor map,” while drawing Redskins fans to the area.
