It looks like the Washington Nationals are getting a new scoreboard to replace the one currently at the ballpark, which is now 15 years old.
But the taxpayer-funded price tag is eye-popping — “somewhere around” $20 to 22 million, according to D.C. Council Chair Phil Mendelson.
“The Nationals have asked…[the team] have said that the scoreboard is about to fall apart,” Mendelson said.
Mendelson made the comments in a media briefing Monday, at which he talked about several big expenses potentially coming for the District in the 2024 budget. He said he supports Events DC, the public-private partnership company that maintains the city-owned ballpark, replacing the scoreboard.
Events DC has agreed to foot the bill, according to Mendelson.
“But that’s not an issue that comes to the Council, that’s really an issue under the lease — the lease requires that the District government maintain the facility that it owns,” Mendelson said, describing the government as the “landlord” of the property.
Mendelson jokingly added that he offered to manually put the numbers up on the scoreboard himself, but the Nationals declined.
Events DC maintains a number of other properties around the District, including the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, RFK Stadium and the Entertainment & Sports Arena, where the WNBA’s Washington Mystics play.
