Harris will have to overcome obstacles.
The owner of the National Football League’s Washington Commanders franchise, Josh Harris, Washington D.C. mayor Muriel Bowser and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell on Monday announced Harris wants 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 can pack up the equipment, load it on a truck and start using the planned building in 2030. There could be opposition from members of the District’s city council as well as lawsuits from the public in an attempt to stop the proposal entirely.
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 Browser’s office is that Harris’s stadium-village will generate $4 billion in taxes. “This land has been blighted and underutilized for too long,” Bowser said. “What our deal with the Washington Commanders provides is the fastest and surest route to developing the RFK campus, and not just delivering sports and entertainment, but delivering housing, jobs, recreation and economic development.” Meanwhile eight miles east of the Washington site is the present Commanders home field and what becomes of the Landover, Maryland site? The plan seems to have Harris and his partners raze the stadium and develop the site. Goodell said a new stadium would increase D.C.’s chances of hosting a Super Bowl “dramatically.” But Goodell pointed out you have to build the stadium first. Maryland and Virginia politicians went after Harris but at the moment, Washington holds all the cards.
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