It is still up in the air whether the Washington NFL football team will hold its annual summer training camp in Richmond or whether there will even be a football season, given the coronavirus pandemic.

But if the team comes to Richmond to train, it won’t charge the city $500,000 for the privilege of playing host. That fee is being dropped, Mayor Levar M. Stoney and team officials jointly announced on April 2.

The team also agreed to end collection of $161,768 still due from the city’s Economic Development Authority, which manages the Richmond training center facility and the main building on Leigh Street that also houses some operations of the Bon Secours Health System.

If the team is no longer insisting on a payment, it would remove a key roadblock to a new contract to continue the relationship between the team and the city after this year.

The Washington team and the city have not signed a new deal for the training camp to continue in 2021 and beyond, nor has the team exercised an option to extend the contract, according to Jim Nolan, Mayor Stoney’s press secretary.

“The discussions are ongoing,” Mr. Nolan stated in response to a Free Press query. “This latest development ... is an encouraging sign.”

The agreement to pay the team for training in Richmond was put in place in 2013 by for- mer Mayor Dwight C. Jones and the EDA, and has long rankled City Council, which did not have a say after authorizing the EDA to build a facility for the team.

Under the agreement, which was signed as the $10 million training camp was being built and before the team held its first training camp in the summer of 2013, the EDA agreed to make an annual contribution to the team in the form of in-kind services and cash to help defray some of the incremental expense of relocating the camp to Richmond.

The EDA later indicated that the team made it a condition of coming to Richmond. There also were internal concerns that rejection of the payment would mean the city had invested in a facility the team would walk away from.

Last year, the council notified Mayor Stoney that it would not approve any new contract between the team and the city unless the payments were removed. At the time, Mayor Stoney agreed with the council and said that he “would not support an extension of the agreement were the city to have to continue making a cash contribution,” Mr. Nolan stated.

The contract modification has been under discussion among the parties for many months, according to the announcement, and comes at a time when the city is focusing its resources on helping local businesses and residents respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The money saved by not paying the team is being used by the EDA to fund its small business loan program, the announcement stated.

“We’re pleased we were able to negotiate this relief for the city,” Mayor Stoney stated. “We value the investments and contributions the team has made in our community and look forward to continuing our work together this year and further exploring ways to grow our partnership.”