In announcing a $3.7 billion deal to build a stadium on the campus at RFK Monday, Mayor Muriel Bowser billed it as a necessary move to keep the District growing in the future.
“Our job is to replace economic activity from 40,000 people,” she said, referencing the federal jobs lost in the area. “You can’t leave 180 acres vacant if you need to add jobs, as we do. You cannot wait for an anchor to show up to start developing there.”
“When you need to attract business, you have to be about business,” the Mayor said.
Under the of the deal, the commanders will “drive the investment” of at least $2.7 billion to build a “state of the art” 65,000-seat, roofed stadium slated to open in 2030, together with related improvements.
It would be the single largest private investment in DC history, the city said.
The DC government will invest $500 million for “stadium horizontal and non-vertical costs” from the sports facilities fee, formerly the ballpark fee, touting it as a way to avoid making cuts from the cities operating budget.
The city is supposed to facilitate parking development using a $175 million revenue bond, funded by stadium activity after it is operating. Events DC is on the hook for another $181 million for a parking garage, $202 million for utility infrastructures, roads and a WMATA study, plus $89 million budgeted for a youth multi-purpose recreational facility on the site.
That’s a total of 1.147 billion.
Ground could be broken on the stadium as early as Fall 2026, the city said, with a goal of opening both stadium and sportsplex in 2030.
The city says the stadium will occupy 11 percent of the site. They will pay for two of the three parking garages, which Councilmember Felder said have a 8,000 total vehicle capacity, although the city declined to estimate the size of the garages, saying they were still in concept design. There are no planned surface lots. 90 acres are planned as mixed-use development, Harris said. There are expected to be between 5,000-6,000 new homes on the site, with at least 30 percent marked as affordable units. Improvements will be made to the trails, and the city says it will add an ampitheater and environmental education center somewhere around Kingman Island or along the Anacostia Riverwalk Trails.
The city says that throughout and after the construction process, it will preserve and continue to operate the fields at RFK. Additionally, the District intends to build the new sportsplex that will host year-round sporting events and tournaments for youth. However, no commitment has been made in regard to the fate Makloof Skate Park or DC Vault sites. Representatives said they would discuss a new location with operators.
“Promise Made Promise Kept”
Bowser has been clear, stating outright at a February public meeting that she wanted an NFL Stadium at RFK Campus as the anchor for development of the 177-acre site and framing it as one of the election promises she made in 2014 as she opened the event by saying, “promise made, promise kept.”
But it seems far from certain that the DC Council would be on board with the District spending. Four council attended the event: Wendell Felder (Ward 7-D), Brooke Pinto (Ward 2-D), Kenyon McDuffie (At-Large-I) and Anita Bonds (At-Large-D).
Felder said he was committed to voting in favor of the deal when it came to council. He pointed to public dollars invested into development at Walter Reed and The Wharf. “Look at how those public dollars have been able to transform those communities. As the Ward 7 council member, I believe that public dollars will do the same for Ward 7,” he said.
By way of comparison, The DC Fiscal Policy institute estimated in 2017 that The Wharf received $300 million in public subsidies.
Felder said that Ward 7 needs an anchor for economic devlepment, dismissing concerns that the Commanders might not be interested in a grocery store on the site and saying the Commanders have been open to “a multitude of things”. He acknowledged the neighbors who have voiced opposition to the stadium, saying that he would continue those conversations. “Everyone’s input is valued,” Felder said. “I think the reality is, we’re in a once in a lifetime opportunity to really transform that site.”
Felder said his mission was to make Ward 7 the best ward in DC, “with investments like this, I think we’re heading in the right direction,” he said. “If that comes at the cost of me dealing with tailgaters in my front yard on game days, that’s just a sacrifice I’m going to have to make.”
There is opposition to the deal in the community, however. A group calling themselves No Billionaires Playground – RFK for the Community will host a community forum tomorrow, the evening of April 29, focused on concerns about what an NFL stadium would mean at RFK. The event will also livestream from the group’s Facebook page.
Ebony Payne ran against Felder to represent Ward 7 on DC Council. “During the ward seven race, there was a lot of concern that the development focus would only be west of the river, and that the voices east of the river would be forgotten about,” she said. “And so I would say that this is still development that’s happening west of the river,” An Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner, Payne (7D05) represents the Kingman Park neighborhood and the property on which the old stadium is located.
She is also on the steering committee for the No Billionaire’s Playground group and will moderate Tuesdays event.
Payne particularly took issue with the Mayor’s response to a question about community benefits (the Mayor essentially said that the development itself was a benefit). “Actually, if you want my immediate reaction,” Payne said, “it’s that we’ve made our voices very clear that that this is not the kind of that a stadium is not the kind of development that majority of community residents want here, and we’ve made our priorities known.”
in 2023, a task force organized by the friends of Kingman Park took a survey of local residents and found that more than 2/3 of them would prefer the campus to be developed for uses other than a stadium.
Payne said it was hard to justify $1 billion in public funding for a stadium during a time when so many families are experiencing economic upheaval and while the city is still recovering from a public safety crisis.
”It feels like such a struggle to have those needs addressed,” Payne said. “It just feels like the only thing this mayor cares about is her stadium and her legacy of a stadium, and whatever the community has been asking for is secondary to all of that.”
Reverend Glenna Huber, Rector at Church of the Epiphany, is a member of the pressed the city to commit to affordable housing — 30 percent deep affordable, 30 percent median affordable, and 30 percent market rate– at the Hill East and RFK sites. She attended the press conference. She said the group is very excited about the opportunity that has been presented. “We just want to make sure that any tax dollars, any revenue that’s generated by the residents, actually benefits the residents in a way that addresses the housing crisis, the employment crisis, so that it’s not just a playground for billionaires.” WIN is familiar with the organization by that name but not d. While the group is glad so much housing could come to the site, they are anxious about the lack of the adjective “affordable” in descriptions. “Housing in the District is at a crisis,” Huber said, “and building thousands of units that nobody can afford doesn’t help anybody.”
Lead WIN Organizer Alison Dunn Almaguer pointed out that the neighborhood established needs to be healthy and sustainable. the property is held by the city on a 99-year lease. “And as so having a lease on that and not having in perpetuity requirements, that’s something that really doesn’t serve us.”
But council at the announcement seemed optimistic the deal would make it through the council voting process. “I think this is a great deal for the city, and I feel very confident that we will be able to proceed,” Councilmember Pinto said, acknowledging that there were different ideas of the types of conversations that were needed, “but I feel very confident that we’ll be able to end this deal across the finish line, because it is what we’ve all been talking about for years,” she said. She said that included not only getting the site and bringing the Commanders home, but also the jobs, housing, hotels and retail. Pinto said she had seen much of the deal she wanted to look at all of the details when it was presented in full with the FY2026 budget, to be sure “it is the best possible deal for the District.”
The Mayor needs seven of the 13 council on board to get the deal through, and many were notable for their absence. That includes Councilmember Charles Allen (Ward 6-D), who has been outspoken in his opposition to the NFL at RFK (Allen did not immediately respond to a request for comment). Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) has said that while he does not object to a stadium, he objects to the use of public money.
Meanwhile, at a public meeting a week before the announcement, At-Large Councilmember Christina Henderson told Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 8F that she “looks forward to a robust discussion” amongst DC council.
Henderson did not say which direction she was leaning, but noted that other properties the District has acquired have developed slowly over decades, if at all. The city gained control of St. Elizabeth’s Campus in 1987 and opened a hospital on the site this year. The city has had control of the Hill East site for nearly 25 years, “and we’ve built, what, two buildings?” the Councilmemer asked the commissioners. “Do we fight for 25 years about what to do? Or do we decide to do something?”
It’s a tough decision. The city is looking to seal a $3 billion stadium deal in a time of economic uncertainty. Approval of the FY 2026 District budget has been delayed as questions remain about the current, or FY2025 budget, which DC is seven months into spending. The city still has about a $650 million shortfall after Congress reset FY 2025 District spending to FY levels seven months into the budget. The city’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) is predicting a fall in city income of $1 billion over the next three years due to federal firings.
In mid-April, Mayor imposed the first cuts as a result of the shortfall, freezing hires, promotions and travel and planning for additional closures and potential furloughs.
The Mayor’s office has noted that the Congressionally-created shortfall affects the District’s operational budget, which pays for salaries and supplies. It isn’t linked to the capital budget, funds that pay for the construction of new buildings and purchase of equipment. The city has already promised $515 million from the capital budget to purchase and improve Capital One Arena.
