WASHINGTON — For fans who want to see the Washington Commanders return to the RFK site, D.C. getting control of the federal land is only the first hurdle. The District still has to figure out how to help pay for a new stadium, and given current debt levels. that poses a challenge for leaders.
Historically, football stadiums have come with huge taxpayer investments. The city of Jacksonville just agreed to pay $775 million towards a massive renovation of the Jaguars current stadium. Earlier this year, the Chicago Bears unveiled a proposal for a new stadium funded in part with $900 million from the state of Illinois. Last year Tennessee lawmakers agreed to spend $1.2 billion in taxpayer funding for a new stadium for the Titans. And in 2022, New York lawmakers approved $850 million in state and county funding for a new football stadium for the beloved Buffalo Bills.
So how much would Washington Commanders owner Josh Harris need from the District to bring the city’s most popular franchise back to town? Hopefully, not as much as those other cities shelled out.
According to data obtained from DC’s chief financial officer, by 2030 the District is predicted to be more than $1.7 billion in debt, including the $520 million the city just shelled out for renovations at Capitol One, as part of a deal to keep the Wizards and Capitals from leaving D.C. That puts the District smack up against the city’s limit on debt based on D.C. law. Essentially, the D.C. government is out of borrowing power.
“There are a couple of other ways you have to look at this,” said former DC Councilmember Jack Evans, who spearheaded the District's deal to borrow more than $500 million to build Nationals Park in 2006.
His consulting firm was one of two D.C. paid a total of $400,000 to study how D.C. could fund a new Commanders stadium. Evans said the study, which focused on successful stadium funding models locally and nationally, was completed in mid March. But months later, the DC government still hasn’t released the results.
“I would say the overall conclusion is that sports stadiums actually produce enormous revenue for the cities,” Evans said. “You’ll have economists say it never does anything, and in some cities it doesn’t.”
But Evans says D.C. is different. Nationals Park, which revitalized Navy Yard, is paying off its debt far faster than planned.
The former councilmember says there’s one key to making a football stadium a financial win for the District.
“There’s so much that a domed football stadium can do for a jurisdiction,” Evans said. “If we are going to do this, that is what we absolutely should do. Because you can use it year-round.”
Evans said a potential alternative to taking out bonds to help pay for a new football stadium, is to create a special taxing district around the RFK site, known as Tax Incremental Financing. A portion of that money would pay off the cost of D.C.’s investment in the stadium over time, while not counting against the cap the city has on its bonds.
Otherwise, D.C. would have to shift money from other planned capital projects to make room to take out bonds for a football stadium.
In a statement, the Office of DC’s Chief Financial Officer told WUSA9 the city’s current debt figures are only a “snapshot in time," and what the District can afford to borrow right now, is not the same as what the District might be able to afford to borrow either in one, two or three years.
Mayor Muriel Bowser’s office and the Commanders declined comment.
As WUSA9 has reported, Harris has proposed a privately funded new arena for his basketball team in Philadelphia, but told WUSA9's Chick Hernadez during super bowl week that football stadiums are more expensive than basketball arenas.
The Commanders are still considering sites in Maryland and Virginia, in addition to RFK.
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