Commanders Seal Stadium Deal As D.C. Approves $1.1B in Funding

The Commanders’ planned return to the District of Columbia took a giant step Friday as officials approved plans to build a $3.8 billion stadium and mixed-use development at the grounds of RFK Stadium, the team’s former home. 

The Council of the District of Columbia passed the stadium bill by a 9–3 vote, one more than was necessary, confirming prior expectations among many area leaders. The assent followed a flurry of critical activity in recent days, including a recently sweetened offer from the Commanders as team president Mark Clouse and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser testified Wednesday before council members, a second lengthy public hearing this week, and a prior restructuring of the funding plan by council chair Phil Mendelson.

Ultimately, the District will supply about $1.1 billion toward the project, while the Commanders are due to fund at least $2.7 billion and are responsible for all cost overruns. The latest changes also call for additional community support from the team, as well as heightened consideration of environmental matters in the project. 

“The mayor called this a BFD. I’d rather say this is a BBD, a big, beautiful deal,” said council pro tempore Kenyan McDuffie. “It’s not been easy, but I really appreciate the fight to get this bill to where it is.”

Crucial Changes

Key swing votes arrived early Friday from two council members—Zachary Parker and Janeese Lewis George—after they helped secure a further agreement with the team to hire a majority of D.C. residents to work on not just the stadium construction, as had been planned, but also for the larger mixed-use development. Parker had previously engaged in some of the most contentious questioning of Bowser in Wednesday’s hearing, with labor-related issues at the center of much of it. 

After the vote, though, those preexisting political tensions were largely forgotten.

“The era of a crumbling sea of asphalt on the banks of the Anacostia is finally coming to an end,” Bowser said in a statement. “In its place, we will bring our team home and deliver a state-of-the-art, Super Bowl–ready stadium for our Commanders. … We will build a campus that makes our city proud for generations of Washingtonians to come.”

There will be a second vote on the stadium bill in September, and there will likely be further amendments between now and then—particularly after the council returns from an August recess. The initial vote, however, confirms a solid base of support in place after the plan was first announced in April.

The development of a new, domed stadium on the District’s east side will aid a long-neglected area, help the area retool its economy amid ongoing reductions in the federal workforce, and also allow the Commanders to keep up with an accelerating facility development wave elsewhere in the NFL. 

“This is a historic moment,” Commanders owner Josh Harris said. “This project is about more than delivering a world-class stadium worthy of our players, fans, and the region. It’s about revitalizing a critical part of our city, creating thousands of jobs and unlocking long-term economic benefits for the District.”

The Commanders and the District, meanwhile, intend to use the forthcoming facility to bid for major events such as the 2031 FIFA Women’s World Cup and a Super Bowl as early as 2032.