Photo by mosley.brian

The Washington ‘Skins are getting a lot less Washington and a lot more Virginia with a new training facility being built in Richmond. The Richmond City Council approved last night a bill that will stick the Virginia capital with the $9 million tab for the new facility.

Richmond, where the school district is currently trying to work through a $10 million budget deficit, is preparing to welcome the ‘Skins training camps beginning next summer. The bill that cleared the council last night was padded out with other items to make sticking taxpayers with the cost of an NFL training facility a bit more palatable. The Times-Dispatch reports:

A list of “enhancements,” the fruit of hours of talks with council members who opposed the deal in its original form, were compiled into a resolution today and approved the same night in an expedited procedure. The package, which will mean $6.3 million in commitments to city school facilities over 10 years, passed unanimously, along with other pieces of legislation authorizing the overall Redskins deal. It sets in motion Jones’ ambitious plan to build the camp for the team by July of next year, part of an economic incentive deal between the state and the team announced in June.

The Richmond deal is one of multiple government handouts the ‘Skins are currently in line to receive. In June, when the team said it was moving its summer training schedule to Richmond, it also announced a $30 million expansion of its main facility in Ashburn, $4 million of which will be fronted by the Virginia state government.

DCist asked if the team considered paying for the $9 million Richmond facility itself, and whether the organization will be providing any services back to the city’s residents. A team ‘Skins spokesman did not respond to either question.