Two Virginia legislators are pushing to safeguard taxpayers ahead of a potential three-way battle for a new Washington Commanders stadium under new ownership. 

Del. David Reid told Front Office Sports that he expects Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C., to be much more open to the possibility of public financing when Josh Harris’ group finalizes a $6.05 billion deal to purchase the Commanders. 

“It would be naive for us to not be prepared,” Reid said. “The governor has been approaching this as a vanity project. Del. [Luke] Torian and I are proactively approaching this by asking, ‘Is it the right economic development opportunity for the Commonwealth?’ We need to build in certain protections.”

Current Commanders owner Dan Snyder was denied the same path amid investigations of him and the team.

Last June, a bill that would have led to the creation of a stadium authority and as much as $300 million of public funding for a $3 billion domed stadium in Northern Virginia was shelved. 

There’s no current stadium legislation, although many in Richmond expect Gov. Glenn Youngkin to send down a bill to study the creation of a stadium authority in a special session in the coming months. 

Reid and Torian are seeking an incentive-based approach to taxpayer backing, along with an end-of-life plan for the stadium site. 

“Just because we have a different legislative schedule than Maryland or D.C., we don’t want to be left out of the conversation,” Reid said.

Ahead of its merger with UFC, World Wrestling Entertainment reported a down first quarter — but still managed to exceed Wall Street’s expectations.

WWE reported net revenue of $297.6 million and operating income of $53.1 million for the first quarter of 2023 — an 11% and 43% decrease year-over-year, respectively.

The company primarily chalks up the drop to moving one of its large-scale international pay-per-views.

WWE staged “Elimination Chamber” in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in February 2022, but isn’t returning there until May for “Night of Champions.” The company put on “Crown Jewel” in nearby Riyadh in November.

The company just barely outperformed Wall Street’s expectations for the quarter: Its net income came out to 43 cents per share, while the average analyst estimate was 42 cents per share, according to a survey from Zacks Investment Research.

Still, there’s plenty of optimism at WWE.

• The 2023 editions of premium live events “Royal Rumble” and “Elimination Chamber” saw respective 52% and 54% year-over-year domestic viewership increases.
• Weekly programs “Raw” and “SmackDown” both increased viewership 7% year-over-year.

WWE’s recent acquisition by Endeavor will see it combine with UFC into one publicly traded company under the stock ticker symbol TKO.

The combined WWE-UFC entity could create a media rights juggernaut when WWE’s deals with NBC Universal and Fox expire next year and UFC’s deal with ESPN expires in 2026.

As the sale saga of Manchester United heads toward its supposed conclusion, bidders are looking for ways to enhance their offers.

Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al-Thani has pledged $1 billion toward improving club infrastructure if his bid is successful. 

The facilities at Old Trafford drew unwanted attention when soccer legend Cristiano Ronaldo criticized them in an interview with Piers Morgan last year.

“Nothing changed since I left,” said Ronaldo, who played for Manchester United from 2003 to 2009, then returned for two seasons in 2021. “I thought I would see new technology, infrastructure. I saw things I saw when I was 20!”

Sheikh Jassim is reportedly offering at least $6.3 billion for the club in addition to the infrastructure investments. He also promised to wipe out United’s $620 million in debt. 

He seeks to buy 100% of the team, while his main rival, Jim Ratcliffe, is bidding for a majority stake at a valuation higher than $6.3 billion, according to the Telegraph.

Ratcliffe’s proposal could leave room for private equity funds to join and the Glazer family to retain a minority stake. Ares Management, Elliott Management, and the Carlyle Group have all expressed interest in owning a piece of the team.