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John Keim
ASHBURN, Va. — On April 28, Washington Commanders proprietor Josh Harris addressed a bunch of reporters shortly after putting one of many largest offers in current franchise historical past.
Harris — seated in a darkish swimsuit alongside D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell — with a burgundy Commanders pin on his lapel, wore the expression of an athlete who had simply received an enormous sport.
Earlier than the questions even started, the Maryland native who grew up a fan of the workforce he purchased from earlier proprietor Dan Snyder for a then-record $6.05 billion in 2023 smiled as he gripped the bottom of the microphone stationed on the desk in entrance of him and leaned in to talk.
“What an incredible day,” Harris mentioned, earlier than clearing his throat. “It is an awesome day in our course of to deliver the Commanders house.”
Transferring away from Northwest Stadium in Landover, Maryland, and bringing the Commanders house was the rationale all events had gathered that day. Hours earlier than, the workforce and the District of Columbia had introduced an settlement to construct a brand new 65,000-seat stadium on the previous RFK Stadium web site within the metropolis. From 1961 to 1996, it had served because the non secular house for Washington soccer’s glory days, internet hosting groups that received 5 convention titles and three Tremendous Bowls whereas changing into one of many NFL’s marquee franchises.
For Harris, who grew up attending video games at RFK, bringing Washington again to the positioning was about reconnecting it to that storied previous whereas additionally making an attempt to clean away the recollections of the earlier 24 years when underneath the stewardship of Snyder — a interval that featured extra title adjustments and congressional investigations than playoff seasons. The April announcement marked a serious step towards making that dream a actuality.
To make use of a soccer analogy, that April cope with town gave the Commanders’ return to RFK first-and-goal from 10 yards out.
On Friday, the method Harris spoke about was pushed over the line when the D.C. council voted to approve the stadium and plans for the 174-acre site. It should vote once more on Sept. 17, however a number of sources from either side with data of the method mentioned that may virtually assuredly simply be a affirmation of the primary vote.
That is why Harris, Bowser — who has championed this return for greater than a decade — town and Commanders followers are actually celebrating a Washington triumph that was virtually three years within the making.
The brand new stadium, which is able to open in 2030, will signify the subsequent — and maybe most long-lasting — step within the franchise’s renaissance underneath Harris and his possession group, which is why Harris seemed so happy when talking to reporters alongside Bowers and Goodell final spring.
“For me, it is recollections,” Harris mentioned. “A few of my happiest days had been cheering for the previous workforce watching the Tremendous Bowls, watching the greats. For me to have the ability to enable for town to have the identical pleasure I had rising up that we have been lacking for thus a few years. That is what it comes all the way down to. It is an incredible feeling.”
Here’s a timeline of how Washington’s RFK return turned a actuality:
Nov. 2, 2022: The Snyders’ bombshell announcement
Two weeks after saying that they had no cause to think about promoting the Commanders, house owners Dan and Tanya Snyder pivoted — laborious — amid stress from fellow NFL house owners to take action.
The announcement of their intentions to promote the franchise was the most important catalyst, sources from either side with data of the method mentioned, for the franchise’s eventual return to RFK.
When requested if the workforce and metropolis can be on this place had Snyder remained in cost, one council member provided a easy reply: “Nope.”
Snyder had not developed relationships with the D.C. authorities throughout his time as proprietor.
Bowser instructed ESPN in December that “there have been quite a lot of objections raised to the earlier possession and the path they took the workforce.”
A number of former workforce officers mentioned Maryland remained a robust choice for a brand new stadium, even with Snyder, and Virginia would have labored with him, too. However attending to the district was not an choice with him as an proprietor, in accordance with workforce, metropolis and council sources concerned.
Nov. 9, 2022: A Home overhaul adjustments Washington’s fortunes
A change in management within the U.S. Home of Representatives opened the door for progress on the stadium web site.
The Home Oversight Committee, which had been led by the Democrats, had spent the earlier yr investigating the group for its office tradition underneath Snyder, however the tide turned when Republicans received the Home on Nov. 8 and James Comer (R-Kentucky) turned the chairman of the committee, which oversees D.C.
“The Dems’ model of Congress was a nonstarter for us going to Capitol Hill,” one former workforce official mentioned. “A brand new session of Congress with the prospects of a brand new proprietor free of the entanglement of Congress, we had an actual clear slate.”
Washington workforce officers started assembly with members of the Home Committee on Pure Assets in addition to the Senate Power and Pure Assets Committee. In the meantime, Comer and Bowser developed a robust relationship. Throughout their first assembly, Bowser knowledgeable him of her plans to revitalize the RFK web site, which after all included a stadium.
After the listening to, Comer instructed Bowser he would assist her get a brand new “area” constructed, however he meant a stadium.
“That location has sat deteriorating over years,” one oversight committee aide mentioned. “It was an excellent alternative to revitalize that vacant land; there was a push there on the time due to taxpayers’ upkeep prices on that land. It was a possibility to get that off the books.”
In July 2023, Comer launched a invoice, co-sponsored by Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), to do what the mayor had needed: deliver the Commanders again to town. Comer remained concerned all through the method.
July 21, 2023: Josh Harris buys the Commanders
Inside per week of shopping for the workforce, Harris met with Bowser in her workplace, together with minority house owners Mitch Rales and Mark Ein and their former vice chairman of public affairs, Joe Maloney, in addition to Bev Perry, a senior adviser to the mayor. Rales and Ein had performed quite a few enterprise dealings within the district through the years, and had been well-known and revered.
However as one individual within the assembly mentioned, they weren’t there to begin brokering a stadium deal. The assembly, which lasted practically an hour, was described as extra a listening session for Harris as Bowser mentioned her love of the franchise and her need for the workforce to return.
One participant mentioned the vibe was “heat, enthusiasm, pleasure. It felt like every little thing you hoped for and needed in that second occurred.”
After that session, Harris, Ein and Rales went to D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson’s workplace for one more assembly. Their objective, a number of sources current mentioned, was merely to begin growing relationships.
Bowser mentioned Harris’ arrival — plus the workforce lastly profitable — would result in strengthened assist by district residents for a stadium. She mentioned residents had been “supportive of the workforce itself with the brand new management.”
Dec. 21, 2024: A congressional Hail Mary will get accomplished
Two months after finishing a Hail Mary to beat the Chicago Bears, the Commanders benefited from one other one on Capitol Hill. This time, as an alternative of an NFL opponent, they defeated the aftereffects of an Elon Musk tweet.
Congress was going to lease the federal land the place the stadium can be constructed to town for 99 years. It was going to be included in a seamless decision invoice that Congress would vote on later within the week. However, on Dec. 18, Musk retweeted a tweet that included a headline about $3 billion for a brand new stadium in D.C. Musk mentioned in his retweet, “This shouldn’t be funded by your tax {dollars}!”
No federal cash was ever a part of the package deal. The injury, although, was performed.
“It virtually killed the entire thing,” one former workforce official mentioned. “We thought it was lifeless. [Congress members] knew it wasn’t true, however there was a lot warmth round this. Folks had been saying, ‘Sorry, it isn’t value it.'”
That led to, as this official known as it, per week of political whack-a-mole as they tried to get the land switch restored to the CR invoice. The Commanders had “three or 4” folks on Capitol Hill lobbying for its inclusion. They didn’t have the house owners visiting senators, fearing the visibility of billionaires lobbying politicians would add extra gas to Musk’s tweet. However Harris and Ein did make calls to these with whom that they had a relationship.
With 24 hours left earlier than Congress adjourned, the Commanders pivoted from the CR invoice to making an attempt to cross it by way of unanimous consent — 100 senators must be in favor. Only one objection and their RFK quest would die.
“A whole lot of last-minute offers to verify folks did not present as much as say, ‘no,'” one high-ranking workforce supply mentioned.
Comer was headed house, however he phoned U.S. Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah), who was a possible holdout, from Baltimore/Washington Worldwide Airport. Comer defined why he thought it was a “good conservative invoice” and why he led it, one supply with data of the committee’s dealings mentioned.
Round 1:15 a.m. on Dec. 21, Senate Majority Chief Chuck Schumer, D-New York, launched the D.C. Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium Campus Revitalization Act on the ground. He requested for it to be handed by unanimous consent. Quite a lot of different unanimous consent proposals failed that night time.
This one didn’t.
“It was like must-watch TV,” a Home oversight aide mentioned. “I do not assume I ever watched the senate flooring at 2 a.m. earlier than, however it was undoubtedly one second I look again on and can bear in mind for a really very long time.”
April 28, 2025: ‘Going house’
After months of talks, one of many worst-kept secrets and techniques was introduced to a lot pomp and circumstance: The workforce and town had struck a deal for them to construct a stadium. A information convention with a number of hundred folks featured Bowser, Harris and Goodell. Music performed. Burgundy and gold was seen all through the room; highlights from Washington’s previous at RFK Stadium performed on a big display screen. A number of previous dignitaries, together with Professional Soccer Corridor of Fame coach Joe Gibbs, attended.
The workforce mentioned it could make investments $2.7 billion to construct the stadium; town would chip in $1 billion by way of varied means to develop the 174-acre property — with housing, a sports activities complicated and retail outlets.
“With out exaggeration,” Harris mentioned, “this would be the greatest stadium within the nation when it is constructed.”
“To have a stadium that brings their workforce again into D.C., that is a extremely massive step and one thing that is been nice for the NFL,” mentioned Goodell, who additionally used to attend video games at RFK Stadium.
Washington senior adviser Doug Williams, who turned the primary Black quarterback to win a Tremendous Bowl when he led the franchise to a title after the 1987 season, added, “We’re bringing the stadium again the place it needs to be. It is identical to going house.”
July 20, 2025: The commander in chief threatens the deal
President Donald Trump threatened to intervene and power the Commanders to alter their title again to their unique one or he’d scuttle the stadium deal.
The workforce didn’t need to touch upon his statements, and the mayor took a diplomatic tone. Sources from the workforce, the mayor’s workplace and the council echoed the identical chorus: No person needed to check Trump’s resolve on this challenge. They solely needed to get the deal authorized. Bowser had developed a working relationship with Trump, having flown to Mar-A-Lago in January and attended a information convention in Could to announce the NFL holding the 2027 draft in D.C.
“I’ve had the chance to talk on a few totally different events with the president about this web site and about our workforce,” she instructed ESPN final month. “And I can say this with out equivocation: He’s a Jayden Daniels fan, and he mentioned himself, and the presser we had been at, that that is in all probability one of the best web site of any web site he is seen for a stadium. I’ve to assume that that is what I’ve heard him say, and that is what we’ll persist with.”
July 23, 2025: D.C. council paves manner for Aug. 1 vote
Council chair Mendelson reached an settlement with the Commanders to change the monetary phrases of the stadium deal, which one member of the group known as “a major step.” Mendelson mentioned the revised settlement would internet town round $779 million, whether or not from income or financial savings. Mendelson had lengthy expressed considerations, however this settlement paved the best way for the primary vote on Aug. 1.
It got here after extra relationship-building. On June 30, Ein and workforce president Mark Clouse met with eight members of the D.C. council in an upstairs room at Café Milano in Georgetown.
One council member mentioned they didn’t talk about specifics of the deal. Nevertheless, that individual mentioned, it turned apparent that “this was not a daily run-of-the-mill transaction” they had been concerned in.
“They’ve a soul tie to the district. For me, that was the primary time I used to be like, ‘OK, you are not simply jerking us round like, “We’re additionally speaking to Virginia or Maryland.”‘ It was very clear that is the place they needed to be and had quite a lot of causes for it; lots was tied to private dedication to town and recollections,” they mentioned.
July 29-30, 2025: Public hearings; the deal will get amended
On the first public listening to for the stadium proposal, greater than 500 residents signed as much as testify — one committee member mentioned they could not recall a bigger group. Mendelson grilled Bowser and Clouse on the phrases of the deal. Finally the deal was amended, and Mendelson mentioned the brand new settlement would internet the district $674 million extra over the subsequent 30 years. He mentioned one other $55 million in financial savings would come from restructuring how the debt was financed.
After the primary listening to, he instructed reporters he felt there have been the mandatory eight votes to cross.
Aug. 1, 2025: The decisive vote
The D.C. council authorized constructing a stadium on the RFK web site by a 9-3 vote (it wanted a two-thirds majority). It nonetheless has to vote once more Sept. 17, however one individual near the state of affairs mentioned that, of their decade-plus of working for the council, they haven’t seen a second vote go a unique manner from the primary.
A number of sources with the workforce and council mentioned the council has instructed the workforce it will probably proceed with its planning after this vote, figuring out September would function a interval on the finish of a sentence.
Some council members mentioned they had been pushed by the worry of what would occur to the property in the event that they did not vote in favor of this proposal. There was no various plan in place to think about, they usually anxious one other would not come to fruition for some time.
“Congress offers the land and we spend 1 / 4 of it doing nothing?” this member mentioned. “Now we have one thing to show to members of Congress who put their political capital on the road. The choice is we’re nonetheless speaking about this land in 10 years.”
As a substitute, they’re now speaking a couple of franchise returning to the place it had its greatest seasons. Washington pushed for a vote this summer time as a result of, as a lot because the workforce needed to return to this web site, it additionally needed to open the stadium by 2030 so it may very well be in consideration to host the Girls’s World Cup in 2031.
After what the franchise and metropolis went by way of to achieve this level, something is feasible.