D.C. Council member Kenyan McDuffie has publicly expressed interest in bringing the Washington Commanders “back home” to the RFK Stadium site in southeast D.C. with the sale of the team imminent.
“I think we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity with the RFK site to reimagine it,” McDuffie said, WUSA-TV (Channel 9) reported Wednesday.
McDuffie, who chairs the council’s Committee on Business and Economic Development, said a new Commanders stadium could revitalize the immediate area with a mixed-use plan consisting of housing, retail and concert venues.
“I don’t think it needs to be just a football stadium there,” said the at-large council member, who is a D.C. native. “I think it should be a broader conversation.”
The RFK site sits in Ward 7 and on federal land. It would take an act of Congress to move the land from federal jurisdiction to the District.
Mayor Muriel Bowser has expressed an interest in having the Commanders back in the District. The team presently plays at FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland, and that lease expires in a few years.
Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) and Council member Charles Allen (D-Ward 6) oppose a football stadium on the RFK site. Mendelson said the site is not the best for economic development and wants to first see the final report on the workplace behavior of outgoing Commanders’ owner Dan Snyder.
Allen, who represents neighborhoods close by a proposed facility, said the RFK site could be better utilized instead of sitting empty for months during the year, WUSA reported.