Thursday, DC Council Chair Phil Mendelson (D) announced he had reached a deal with the Commanders that would see a new NFL stadium and adjacent development on the RFK Campus.
Mayor Muriel Bowser announced a deal with the Commanders in April, asking DC Council to vote on it by July 15. She touted the $2.7 billion the team would contribute to the project as “one of the largest private investments” in a deal of this type.
The city would put in about $1.1 billion, including infrastructure work and funding construction of two parking garages. But critics noted that the city left a lot of money on the table, exempting the team from rent, property and sales taxes and allowing them to take the profits from the parking garages built by the city.
DC Council Chair Phil Mendelson said members received the deal weeks later and associated reports much later, delaying consideration of the deal at a time when they were already dealing with a compressed timeline for the city’s budget. That made the July 15 deadline impossible, he argued.
A New Deal
Mendelson’s deal includes several revisions. The team would grant parking revenue and taxes to the city as well as sales tax on merchandise, food and beverages. In the original deal, the Commanders agreed to a Community Benefits Agreement (CBA); the Mendelson deal sets the value of the CBA at $50 million, specifying that it should link youth sports and education.
Currently, the team has offices in Maryland and practice facility in Virginia; the deal requires the team to move their senior leadership and sales office to DC. It specifically allocates $600 million from the “Sports Facility Fee to Metro improvements. Finally, the Council will create deadlines for completion of parts of the development, such as retail and affordable housing, accelerating the “out-of-year” rent payments as a penalty. But Mendelson did not propose deadlines, presumably leaving that to council.
An economic analysis released by the DC Council Budget Office said that mixed-use development at RFK without a stadium would produce more tax revenue annually than development with a stadium as anchor, largely because without a stadium less property would be dedicated to parking garages, “which do not generate sizable revenues”. However, the analysis estimates it would take another ten years to build without the infusion of private funds, because the district would need to request and evaluate plans, find financing and re-zone the site.
Mendelson said that the team’s need for urgency worked for DC. “What we said to the Commanders was that if you really want an early date, then we want to see some changes that make the deal better for citizens of the District, and that’s the material that’s been released,” Mendelson said, saying “significant revenues” were redirected to the city. A press release estimates the deal he brokered in a $779 million improvement for the city over the original proposal.
Reactions
Ward 7 Councilmember Felder (D) greeted the deal with enthusiasm after the announcement, writing on X, “It’s Ward 7’s time,” and adding he was looking forward to the first vote on the deal scheduled for Aug. 1. Felder has been supportive of the project, touting it as a significant investment in Ward 7 which, he says, has gotten less than many other parts of the city. On Wednesday, his office produced a 23-page draft of a CBA includes requests benefits around items such as jobs, housing, transportation, tickets. At a press conference Thursday, Felder said the $50 million limit does not change requests. “Now that we have a dollar figure, that just allows us to think about how we want to distribute the resources adequately across the ward.”
At-Large Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie said the mayor had struck a great deal with the Commanders, “but DC Council has made it better.”
But many say the deal falls short. Ward 5 Councilmember Zachary Parker (D) represents residents to the north of the site. He said that he thought the deal would be reached eventually. “But to be clear: today’s announcement is largely the Chairman’s deal — that members are still digesting,” Parker said, referencing DC Council. “Conversations among members are ongoing.”
Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen (D) has opposed a stadium on the site for years. In a oped published in the Washington Business Journal, he said it if it must happen, it needs to be the best deal for the District, listing three areas for improvement: less parking, more affordable housing and better environmental protections. “Building a small city from the ground up offers a rare chance to lead on climate, clean energy, and sustainable design,” he wrote on X. “But the current deal lacks any environmental safeguards.”
No Billionaire’s Playground, an organization opposed to a stadium on the site, applauded Mendelson’s deal for moving revenue to the public from the team. “But the changes still leave residents with a money-losing and unbalanced deal,” they said in a press release. In particular they point to $856 million in direct subsidies and the transfer of land parcels at low or now cost — $1/year rent. “[That’s] something not found in any modern stadium deal and worth $6 billion– more than double what the team will contribute to stadium construction,” they note.
“Charging a fair market rent would prod the team to develop the land quickly,” they argue.
Hearing From the Community
Finally, they say the new deal does not address concerns voiced by the community. Kingman Park residents do not want to be cut off from the RFK Campus by a row of parking garages, proposed to do just that along Oklahoma Avenue NE. It doesn’t provide guarantees that the CBA match community demands or forbid the team from receiving funding from the Housing Protection Trust Fund in addition to the $1 a year rent that the District already says will subsidize affordable housing.
“Chairman Mendelson’s revised deal doesn’t get us very far past the 20 yard line,” said the coalition’s Ed Lazere. “It keeps DC finances and DC residents in a losing position. We cannot call these changes anywhere close to a win.”
DC Council will hold a hearing on the deal July 29 and July 30. More than 500 residents are already signed up to testify. Asked by a reporter Thursday about resident doubts that there would be time to incorporate the feedback that would be offered, with a first vote the day after the second hearing. Mendelson said that it was important to hear from the public.
McDuffie emphasized that the hearings are important, but added that council members have heard from residents of the Districts for the past few months on the process. “Next week’s hearings are an extraordinarily important process in the council’s business, but it is not the first opportunity that we’ve had to hear back from residents about what they’d like to see.”
Not Final
Councilmembers still have time to tweak the deal, and it is expected to change prior to their first vote on the deal Aug. 1 and again before the second vote Sept. 17, after they return from the August recess.
TODAY, Friday, July 25, is the final day to register to testify at the public hearing, 10 a.m. Tuesday, July 29. You can also submit written testimony. Register: lims.dccouncil.ogv/hearings/hearings/927
