Virginia and Maryland could be back in the race.
July 15th has come and gone and that deadline to get a stadium deal done between Washington, D. C. and the National Football League’s Washington Commanders’ franchise owners has not been signed. There will be public hearings in Washington about the project and there may be a push by politicians in Maryland and Virginia to get the Commanders’ business in their states or in Maryland’s case to keep the business in the state. Commanders’ games are played in Landover, Maryland.
In April, the owner of the National Football League’s Washington Commanders franchise, Josh Harris, Washington D.C. mayor Muriel Bowser and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell announced Harris wanted to build a $3.6 billion, 65,000-seat domed stadium at the site of RFK Stadium along with retail space, office space and residential space on land now controlled by the District. The team played at that stadium from 1961 through 1995. Just because there was an announcement, that doesn’t necessarily mean that Harris could pack up the equipment, load it on a truck and start using the planned building in 2030. Harris and his Commanders’ business partners will pay $2.7 billion for construction, while D.C. will contribute about $1.1 billion which includes $500 million for construction, $356 million for parking, $89 million for a “sportsplex” and $202 million for utilities. The line from Bowser’s office is that Harris’s stadium-village will generate $4 billion in taxes. Goodell said a new stadium would increase D.C.’s chances of hosting a Super Bowl “dramatically”. The setback could change the stadium game dynamics. Commanders’ ownership has a chance to get a bidding war going between the Commonwealth of Virginia, the state of Maryland and the District to see what those government entities are willing to offer him. Washington though remains in the lead in the stadium race despite missing the July 15th deadline.
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