The DC Council is "considering legislation" that would allow the Nationals and their owners, the Lerner family, to "amend city billboard rules and install video screens outside Nationals Park," according to Karen Goff of the WASHINGTON BUSINESS JOURNAL. The Nationals Park Graphics and Entertainment Regulatory Amendment Act of '16 would "allow 10 digital, full-motion video billboards of up to 1,200 square feet each on the outside of Nationals Park and surrounding garages." Those billboards "are not allowed" under current DC regulations -- though special legislation has "let them in at Gallery Place and Verizon Center in recent years." The Nationals said that "installing what are essentially 35-foot-high TV screens, similar to what is outside of Verizon Center," will cost the team $5M. Lerner Enterprises COO Alan Gottlieb said that the team anticipates eventually earning $3-5M "from advertising sales annually." The billboards would show PSAs, game highlights, ads and other programming "geared toward fans." Nationals reps said that their goal is to "install the billboards" by the '18 season, when the team hosts the MLB All-Star Game. The team said that the signs would "not be installed across from any existing occupied buildings, though there may be future residential or hotel structures facing the signs" (BIZJOURNALS.com, 11/15).
