Nationals ask Washington D.C. to finance stadium roof

Nationals Park, located along the Anacostia River, opened in 2008. (Rob Tringali/Getty Images)

The Nationals want to put a roof, which would cost roughly $300 million, on Nationals Park and team executives have approached several city officials, including Mayor Vincent Gray's office, about funding the project with taxpayer money, according to several media outlets, including Mark Segraves of WNEW in Washington.

Discussions are preliminary but diagrams were reportedly presented to the mayor's office. Gray apparently wasn't a fan, according to Adam Kilgore of The Washington Post.

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The ballpark, which opened in 2008, was built using about $700 million in taxpayer funds.

The request, which the team nor Gray would comment on, comes after the city approved $50 million in public funds going towards improvements to the Verizon Center — home of the Wizards and Capitals — that include a new Jumbotron.

The city is also in talks to spend hundreds of millions on a new soccer stadium for the D.C. United Major League Soccer club that currently plays its home games at RKF Stadium.

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