The Washington Commanders have filed a site plan to develop its practice facility in Ashburn into a data center complex — but that is not expected to happen any time soon.

The NFL team filed the site plan under the corporate name Scoreboard Landco Borrower LLC, which owns the property at 21300 Coach Gibbs Drive, where the team now trains and has its corporate headquarters. The facility contains four outdoor practice fields and one indoor field beneath an inflatable bubble.

The property, which totals around 44 acres, including 5 acres in a flood plain, sits at Gloucester Parkway and Loudoun County Parkway, just west of Route 28. It is bordered by multiple more data centers. The Washington football team has trained there since the early 1990s.

Specifics of the site design were not accessible online Monday afternoon, but Loudoun County authorities told The Burn, which originally reported the news, that they knew this was in the works — and it doesn’t mean the Commanders are leaving the area anytime soon.

“This isn’t a surprise. We were warned this was coming,” said Buddy Rizer, Loudoun’s director of economic development. “[The Commanders] have been very transparent with us.”

Rizer went on to tell the Burn that the move was more about the Commanders safeguarding the value of their land for all prospective future purposes, and that there are no concrete plans to develop data centers on the property at this moment.

Instead, by filing now and getting the requisite permits in place, the Commanders would be “grandfathering in” their property under the current rules should there be future changes to regulations or legislation that could adversely effect the value of the land, he noted.

“We know that data center land sells for a premium,” Rizer added. “Not having those rights guaranteed impacts land values. They are only making a sensible business decision.”

He noted that the county wants that the Commanders remain their training facility in Ashburn for years to come and hopes to see the club increase its footprint in Loudoun as well. A Commanders’ spokeswoman stated the team remains committed to Virginia.

“Loudoun County is where many of our coaches, players and employees not only work, but also call home,” the representative stated.

“Our objective in filing for this approval is to secure the option and flexibility for possible future development on our 162-acre site, and it is not a plan to take any action in the near future. Any development we accomplish will be utilized to reinvest in our football program and fan experience.”

The Commanders are looking for a home for a new stadium after their current lease at Commanders Field (previously FedEx Field) in Landover, Md., expires in 2027. The site of the former RFK Stadium in Washington is thought to be the main option. Other locations under discussion include in Northern Virginia — including the Sterling and Woodbridge areas — and Maryland.

Initial plans for the stadium floated in 2022 under previous owner Dan Snyder included a training facility in the same complex, but it’s not clear whether that would still be in the plans or whether a training facility would be located elsewhere.

Since new owner John Harris and his partners bought the team last summer, they have made some upgrades to the Commanders’ Ashburn facility. The most recent big change has been to replace an artificial grass practice field that hasn’t been utilized for years.