Commanders adjust D.C. stadium pact ahead of key vote

The Washington Commanders took a major step Thursday toward getting final approval to build their next stadium in the District of Columbia, by reworking the agreement in a more favorable way for the local government.
The modified agreement will see up to $950 million more in revenue funnel back to D.C. over a 30-year period, according to D.C. Council chairman Phil Mendelson.
The parties also restructured the debt financing plan to ease the burden on D.C. taxpayers by around $55 million.
The legislation is now widely expected to pass the council’s vote on Aug. 1.
“We’ve been working with the Washington Commanders for several weeks and we 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,” Mendelson said in a news release.
Mendelson said there will be public hearings on July 29 and 30 ahead of the vote. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, a proponent of the bill, appeared at a rally Thursday and asked residents to testify in favor of the project to bring the NFL team back to the District.
“Make sure that, on next Friday, we’re giving the council members the support they need to do an important thing, and that is to advance this very important project,” Bowser said.
The parties are moving with urgency in the wake of President Donald Trump threatening to block the project if the Commanders do not revert to their former team name, the Washington Redskins. While Congress has authority over the D.C. budget, there are limitations on how Trump could get involved.
“The team was willing to improve the deal considerably in return for the earlier vote,” Mendelson said.
“Through this process, we’ve seen firsthand how committed our city’s leaders are to building a strong future for the District,” Commanders president Mark Clouse said in a statement. “With the Council’s announcement today, the opportunity to bring the team back to its spiritual home and revitalize a critical part of the nation’s capital is now one step closer.”
Commanders owner Josh Harris and Bowser announced on April 28 that the team and D.C. had reached a $3.7 billion deal to build a roofed, 65,000-seat stadium in the nation’s capital. At the time, the NFL team committed to financing at least $2.7 billion and D.C. paying $500 million for infrastructure toward the stadium. The use of taxpayer money must be approved by the D.C. City Council.
The project would be centered on the site of Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium (or RFK Stadium), which housed the NFL franchise from 1961-96 and has yet to be fully demolished.
The Commanders have played in a stadium in Landover, Md., currently called Northwest Stadium, since moving out of Washington.