WASHINGTON — The Washington Commanders are one step closer to returning to the District after 27 years.
Congress will include legislation to give long term control of the RFK Stadium site in Southeast to D.C. in the government funding bill, which reached final agreement from Congressional Republicans and Democrats Tuesday. The development clears the way for the District to move forward with plans to bring the Washington Commanders back to the city from its current home in Prince George's County.
H.R. 4984, the D.C. Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium Campus Revitalization Act gives the District long-term control of the RFK site and allows Mayor Muriel Bowser to formally negotiate a stadium deal to bring the Commanders back to D.C. and the RFK site, which Commanders owner Josh Harris has called "the spiritual home of the team."
Efforts to bring Washington's football franchise back to the District date back nearly a decade, to former owner Dan Snyder. But efforts in Congress to give long-term control of the RFK site to D.C. have repeatedly failed until this session when the idea received bi-partisan support from ranking Republican House member James Comer of Kentucky.
After initially gaining swift and overwhelming bi-partisan approval in the House of Representatives, the RFK legislation hit a road block in the Senate when Montana Sen. Steve Daines signaled opposition to the bill over the franchise's decision to retire the team's old Native American logo, which was created by ancestors of one of his Montana constituents.
The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources voted 17-2 to advance the legislation. H.R. 4984 would “direct the Secretary of the Interior to transfer administrative jurisdiction over the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium Campus to the District of Columbia so that the District may use the Campus for purposes including residential and commercial development” which could include a new football stadium for the Commanders.
Maryland leaders placed a last-minute block on the RFK Bill moving forward over a number of issues. Including: the future of the Northwest Stadium site in Prince George's County should the Commanders leave.
And – mow much money will be included in the spending bill to rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge after it collapsed earlier this year?
According to a person in the room during a Dec. 2 meeting on Capitol Hill between Commanders ownership and Maryland Sens. Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen, the senators told Commanders representatives they planned to block the RFK bill until Moore was satisfied with plans for the future use of the current stadium site in Landover and received written assurances of what the site would become should the Commanders leave.
Moore also wanted commitments from the Commanders the organization would pay to tear down Northwest Stadium when the new stadium opens, currently projected to be no earlier than 2030.
News of the RFK bill's inclusion in the congressional budget legislation comes days after Moore reached an agreement of understanding with the Commanders over future use of the current stadium site in Prince George’s County, should the team relocate to D.C. or elsewhere.
Congress will vote on the budget bill later this week.
This is a developing story and will continue to be updated as we learn more.