Cash 'Isn't There' For New Stadium, Supervisors Say

He could not say where the $300,000 from the state would come from. Silber said the team has sent letters to Washington area corporations asking them to bid on the naming rights. He said the minimum bid is $10 million over 10 years.

"The supervisors are trying to be very understanding to what we need and the needs of the overall community," he said. "We do not have adversarial positions."

Board Chairman Corey A. Stewart (R) said that he was not optimistic that the board will approve the stadium this year.

"I think the only possibility of getting it down this year is if we can think of an alternative funding mechanism," he said. "Clearly because of the debt capacity, it is going to be difficult this year. We are not going to supplant any school or road to get a stadium. I want to get a stadium and would like to get it built, but doing it this year is going to be very unlikely."

Stewart said he had talked with Silber about alternative financing. He said the $300,000 in state revenue that Silber identified would come from state sales tax collected on items sold at the stadium, including tickets and other items, such as shirts and caps.

He said such an arrangement would require the approval of the General Assembly.

The stadium is in Martin E. Nohe's district. "I don't see how we can move forward on it this year," Nohe (R-Coles) said. "The stadium only makes sense if it is a win-win for the county, the team and the citizens. That might mean to put it off, it might mean to renegotiate the current financing plan. It is going to require a different approach that we haven't examined yet."

Stewart, Covington, Caddigan, Jenkins, Nohe and Hilda M. Barg (D-Woodbridge) said they would not vote to approve the current plan for the stadium this year. Michael C. May (R-Occoquan), who joined the board this month, said he was undecided. John T. Stirrup Jr. (R-Gainesville) could not be reached to comment.

Stewart said that unless a stadium funding plan that would not affect spending on roads and schools is devised, it is unlikely that he will even call for a vote on approving the stadium. "I never want to say never, but I think that no board member will choose the stadium over any road or school project," he said.