WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Commanders are going home. The organization agreed to a deal with the District of Columbia to build a stadium at the site where the team had its greatest success, according to sources familiar with the situation.
Washington struck a deal to play where RFK Stadium — the team’s home from 1961 to 1996 — still stands. An announcement is expected Monday morning.
Terms of the deal have not been announced, though multiple outlets reported earlier this month that the cost would exceed $3 billion.
Commanders owner Josh Harris has said he would like to open a new stadium in 2030. Washington has a contract with Maryland to play at Northwest Stadium until early in the 2027 season but can continue playing there until a new stadium is built.
Washington mayor Muriel Bowser’s plan has long included a stadium, housing, parking facility, hotels and retail space on the 174-acre site, and she has indicated she wants to include a recreational facility.
Bowser has said often she’d like to attract more big-time events such as the Super Bowl or a Final Four, in addition to major concerts.
The D.C. Council must approve any taxpayer money that is used for the project; the group has been split on the topic in the past.
“My position has been that there should not be public dollars — the D.C. treasury should not be paying toward a stadium,” D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) told the Washington Post earlier this month. He told the newspaper that he had been briefed by the mayor on details about a potential deal nearly two weeks ago.
The agreement completes a yearslong search by the organization that gained serious momentum once Harris purchased the Commanders from Dan Snyder. Harris, who grew up in Maryland, made it clear on the day he bought the team in July 2023 how much going to games at RFK Stadium meant to him.
Bowser told ESPN in December that “there were a lot of objections raised to the previous ownership and the direction they took the team.”
The momentum further surged once Congress included a provision in a continuing resolution bill in December, giving the city control of the land for the next 99 years. Without that allowance, the Commanders would not have reached an agreement with the city.
Harris and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell lobbied lawmakers on Capitol Hill to pass legislation to allow for the transfer of land. It was signed into law by former President Joe Biden in early January.
At the time, one team source said there was a “75% chance” the Commanders would build a stadium at the RFK site.
The Commanders had considered staying in Landover, Maryland, and building on the site of their current stadium. Virginia had been in contention, but over the past year, it ceased to be a strong option. The team has practiced in Ashburn, Virginia, since 1992; the Commanders’ once-antiquated building is in the second year of a three-year upgrade — renovating the locker room and creating more space for a players’ lounge and meeting rooms, among other areas. Their draft war room was used for the first time this past weekend.
RFK has remained a favorite spot for longtime fans, and not just because it’s more centrally located. The organization played in five Super Bowls and won three while playing at RFK — from 1982 to 1991 — fueling an emotional attachment among the fan base. Harris has talked often about what it meant to him and a number of his co-owners.
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