A vote will be held next Friday, Aug.1, to approve the Washington Commanders’ stadium relocation to the old RFK site in D.C.
“Today we’re scheduling a vote for Friday August 1, 2025 to consider the RFK campus legislation,” D.C. City Council Chairman Phil Mendelson said in a statement released on Thursday morning. “We’ve been working with the Washington Commanders for several weeks and feel we have a much-improved agreement that would bring the team back to their historical home, as well as develop the land around the RFK campus.”
Reports emerged Wednesday that Mendelson had reached an agreement with the Commanders and their owner, billionaire Josh Harris.
The Commanders were previously prepared to self-fund $2.5 billion of the $3.7 billion project, which would include a 65,000-seat stadium and development of the surrounding areas. The Commanders would also receive all revenue from parking and taxes, despite the city’s $350 million in contributions to 8,000 spaces surrounding the stadium. There also was no timeframe for the development of the 5,000-6,000 housing units that were promised in the deal.
Plans for the campus surrounding the stadium called for mixed-use projects such as hotels, bars, restaurants, retail stores, and more. D.C. would contribute slightly more than $1 billion to the project.
The City Council voted 9-4 to reject the terms of the proposal. A second vote wasn’t expected until at least mid-September, and Mendelson said that a deal would not be reached until the city could claim more revenue from the deal.
That has completely changed – two days of public hearings are scheduled for next week before the vote at week’s end.
“We are nearing the goal line. We’re in the red zone,” councilmember Kenyan McDuffie, the chair pro tempore of the Council, said in a phone interview Wednesday, per The Athletic. “And I’m optimistic that we’re going to have a vote, and approval of this deal, soon. But, certainly, before the Commanders take the field on Sept. 7 and give us our first win of the season.”
The Commanders hope to open the stadium by 2030, allowing it to potentially host matches in the 2031 FIFA Women’s World Cup. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who was present when the Commanders unveiled their first public rendering of their stadium, said the team’s chances of hosting a Super Bowl “dramatically” increased with a new stadium.
City officials estimated that the stadium project would create 2,000 permanent jobs and 14,000 construction jobs. They also projected $4 billion in tax revenue over the first 30 years as a direct result of the stadium.
“It’s going to be transformational in its economic impact for the city,” said McDuffie. “This land was transferred to the District, and had parameters that allowed for a mixed-use economic project — with a stadium in mind.
“The stadium is the anchor for a broader, comprehensive economic project. I never thought of the 180 acres and thought, ‘Just build a stadium.’ … This final agreement that will be presented, folks will see a better deal across the board. More revenues for the city. More good-paying jobs for D.C. residents. And greater opportunities for D.C.-based small businesses.”
After the Council denied the stadium in their first vote, there were suggestions that the team would seek the help of U.S. President Donald Trump, who had supported the team’s return to the nation’s capital.
However, Trump earlier this week hinted that he would threaten the Commanders with an ultimatum: restore their previous “Redskins” name, or else he would not help them.
The Commanders’ current home at Northwest Stadium is in Landover, Maryland, in an area tucked away from the hustle and bustle of D.C. Many game-attending fans take the metro to the Morgan Boulevard station, where they then need to walk about a mile to arrive at the stadium.
The RFK Stadium site is right along the Anacostia River and surrounded by Independence Ave SE, 22nd St NE, and C St NE. It is one block away from the Stadium-Armory Metro station.
