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LivingSocial might be footing the tab to keep Metrorail open during the Washington Nationals’ upcoming playoff games, but there are a whole lot of other expenses made necessary by postseason baseball. Beginning with the Nationals’ first home game in the National League Division Series next Tuesday or Wednesday, the District will need to brace for the cost of additional police officers, traffic controllers, taxi inspectors and other civic employees who will be deployed to Navy Yard for the occasion.
All that will cost D.C. taxpayers $76,000 a game, the Post reports. In his biweekly press conference today, Mayor Vince Gray laid out the city’s plan to handle the extra burden of policing the area around Nationals Park for the most exciting stretch of days in the stadium’s five-year history.
The bulk of the additional expenses would be for a vastly expanded presence of the Metropolitan Police Department, which would likely see its Nationals patrol more than triple in size during the playoffs, according to the Post:
The city’s largest expense will come from the Metropolitan Police Department, which generally deploys 19 officers per game but would increase staffing to as many as 75 officers. The extra deployment would cost more than $33,000 per game, according to estimates from the mayor’s office.
Really, though, however much the District ends up paying for the postseason is up to the Nationals. The first two games of the NLDS will be played in the opposing team’s stadium, meaning that Nationals Park would host only one game in the event of a series sweep.
But the deeper the Nationals go, the more days the D.C. will have to expend additional resources. Should the Nationals play every series to the maximum number of games, that could result in a tab of $836,000. But if the bill gets that high, it’ll also mean that they’ll have made the World Series.
In the mean time, LivingSocial’s financial contribution is just a deposit. Assuming there are at least 5,500 fans an hour boarding Metro following a late-night playoff game, the daily deals company will get all of its money back.
