District officials have hired a consulting firm to help get the franchise back in the city.
Josh Harris, who is the majority owner of the National Football League’s Washington Commanders franchise, has to be happy with the possibility of three municipal entities ready to roll out the red carpet to entice him to build a football venue in Maryland or in Virginia or in Washington, D. C. According to a report from the Washington Business Journal, the city of Washington has agreed to pay $565,000 to an affiliate of ASM Global, to do a study that will include ways to develop a stadium site which in the district’s case will be the site of the old D. C. Stadium as well as identifying potential revenue sources that will include an evaluation of possible local, regional and federal funding sources. ASM Global will also summarize NFL stadium lease agreements around the country. The Washington NFL franchise played in D. C. or RFK Stadium between 1961 and 1996. The then owner Jack Kent Cooke moved the business to Landover, Maryland after building a then state-of-the-art stadium in 1997. That state-of-the-art stadium has become obsolete and Harris’ business wants a new venue as soon as possible.
Washington officials think they may have the land for the stadium but the soon to be razed D. C. Stadium sits on federal land and until Washington, D. C. officials can gain control of the 190-acre property, there could be some haggling between local and federally elected officials about what can be built on the site. In Virginia, there have been various proposals to build a stadium for the business that is headquartered in the commonwealth. Maryland officials, who just signed deals with the NFL Ravens’ ownership and Major League Baseball’s Orioles’ ownership to spend more than a billion to upgrade Baltimore’s two stadiums, want to keep the Commanders business in the state. The Commanders’ stadium game continues.
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Evan can be reached at evan_weiner@hotmail.com
