We’re following a developing story about a possible sports arena in Virginia Beach.
The 2013 Virginia budget will not include money to help fund the proposed arena.
The governor supports bringing a professional sports arena to Virginia Beach, according to a statement from his office, but he can’t financially support it at this time.
Here is the full statement issued by Tucker Martin from the Governor’s Office.
The Governor has long supported efforts to bring a professional sports franchise to Hampton Roads. However, any state involvement in economic development proposals must make clear and sound financial sense for the Commonwealth’s taxpayers and be economically justifiable. Over the past few days the Virginia Economic Development Partnership received and began to review this recent proposal from Virginia Beach. VEDP is still analyzing the proposal and studies to determine the feasibility of state support and whether any existing state economic development programs are relevant to the City’s request. Virginia Beach officials were informed this afternoon that the Governor’s budget amendments will not provide resources for this project at this time, as the VEDP analysis is ongoing.
