The District of Columbia’s recently rebranded NFL team, the Washington Commanders, is looking to build a new stadium, and two potential sites for the giant coliseum are in Prince William County.

Yes, the Washington Commanders are considering building their new stadium in Woodbridge or Dumfries among other areas.

While this would bring a lot of business to the county, residents have their concerns.

One concern of many critics is the lack of necessary infrastructure in the community. Residents in the county have been advocating for a metro stop in Woodbridge for years, but that has yet to come. The trains that do run through the area mostly run during commuting hours, and they would be completely insufficient to transport hundreds of people to and from the stadium. Roads in the area are already under strain because Northern Virginia is one of the worst areas for traffic in the world. Adding additional traffic from a new stadium would only serve to complicate the region’s heavily burdened transportation system.

Building a new stadium in the county–or anywhere in Northern Virginia for that matter–would require new infrastructure that our community cannot afford.

While it’s undeniable that the infrastructural damage would be immense, proponents argue that the new stadium would bring more customers for local businesses. Surely, in terms of business, constructing an NFL stadium in the county would be beneficial.

The new stadium would absolutely bring new customers to the area, but could local businesses in our community handle the massive influx of out-of-towners? And how would it impact local families who want to get a meal on a day that happens to line up with a football game? Superficially, the idea of attracting people to the area sounds like a sound economic plan; however, in reality, the new stadium would make life harder for business owners, employees, and customers who actually live in the community and care about it.

Additionally, the construction of the stadium would only encourage more large corporations to move in and drive local, family-run restaurants and shops out of business. Nobody wants local businesses that are invested in our community to be shut down because they can’t compete with the prices and resources of giant corporations. But that is exactly what will happen if Prince William County allows an NFL stadium.

Another big concern for the community is the team’s history of racism and sexism. In 2019, Washington’s NFL team changed its name from the Washington Redskins to the Washington Football Team, a move that was the result of decades of criticism. The team’s previous name was an offensive and racist term for Indigenous Americans, and the team had faced disapproval for its name for decades. Changing the name and logo was a step in the right direction, but it didn’t address the problems within the team’s culture. Daniel Snyder is known as the worst team owner in the NFL because of his blatant racism and sexism.

What many people fail to realize is that the change from Washington Football Team to the Washington Commanders was done for similar public relations reasons.

When the team changed its name and rebranded in February, it was under public scrutiny for allegations of sexual harassment. In fact, in July, 2021, after a lengthy investigation, the team was fined $10 million by the NFL for fostering a toxic culture of sexual harassment, bullying, and intimidation. Is this the kind of company we want operating in our community?

It wouldn’t be fair to ask residents of the county to adjust to life with a massive stadium in their community. We don’t have the infrastructure. We don’t need the stadium drawing even more large corporations into our county. And we don’t need any part of the Washington Commanders’ toxic culture of racism and sexism.

Prince William County is quickly becoming a bigger and more vital part of the D.C. Metropolitan area, but bringing the new Washington Commanders stadium to the community would accelerate that process at a rate our county is completely and utterly unprepared for. Change is inevitable, but some change is better left to time.