$3.8B Commanders Stadium Deal On 'Half-Yard Line' After Council Changes

D.C. lawmakers have reached a revised deal with the Washington Commanders for a $3.8B stadium project that would generate more revenue for the city. 

D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson announced the new agreement that he struck with the NFL team at a press conference Thursday morning.

The deal would funnel an estimated $674M into the District’s general fund from the stadium’s operations over 30 years, and it would make the team responsible for $50M in community benefits and allocate $600M from the District’s ballpark fee for future Metro improvements at the site. It also dictates that the team must set up offices in D.C. 

The council is planning to take its first vote on the new agreement Aug. 1 and a second vote on Sept. 17. Mendelson said he believes that he will get the votes necessary to pass the agreement. 

Speaking to reporters Thursday morning, Mendelson said the Commanders’ determination to move the deal along this summer gave the council leverage to work out a better deal for the city. 

“Time was on our side in terms of the team willing to make the deal more attractive,” he said.

“A lot of the reaction that we got from residents, at least that I heard, and I think my colleagues would agree, was that the deal could be better for the District,” he added. “And I heard from many people: ‘I support the team. I want the team in the District, but I think it could be a better deal.’ And so I think the Commanders heard that.”

The deal also puts the Commanders on the hook for cost overruns in constructing the stadium, Mendelson said. It lays out development deadlines for various phases of the mixed-use district and restructures the debt financing, saving taxpayers an estimated $55M.  

The additional $674M it targets for D.C.’s general fund over the next 30 years is a “conservative” estimate, Mendelson said. That will come from parking revenue on nongame days, a new parking tax and taxes from merchandise and food and beverage sales, which were previously planned to go to the team.

All told, Mendelson said the changes could bring in as much as $949M for the District over the 30-year lease. 

Tax revenue from ticket sales wouldn't go to the city but to a special fund for the team to finance stadium maintenance. Mendelson said that tax would bring in an estimated $445M over 30 years.

The plan is still for the team to put up $2.7B for the stadium and for D.C. to infuse $1.1B to finance infrastructure at the site.

At a pep rally one hour after Mendelson's press conference, Mayor Muriel Bowser applauded the scheduled vote on what she called the “most important economic development project in the history of Washington, D.C.,” and said she looks forward to reviewing the amended deal.

“We are one step closer today, with Chairman Mendelson's announcement,” Bowser said. “So when I gave the council the deal, we were on the 1-yard line. Now we're on the half-yard line.” 

Bowser and the NFL team brought a proposed deal to the council in April to bring the team back to D.C., nearly three decades after it moved to Landover, Maryland.

Under the proposed deal, the Commanders would be the master developer of an adjacent mixed-use district expected to bring in 6M SF of development with between 5,000 and 6,000 residential units.

At the time, the parties negotiated a July 15 deadline for the council to pass the legislation for the exclusivity agreement to be intact. The council didn't meet that deadline and said it needed more time to work out an agreement. 

In the months since, Bowser and team officials have been putting public pressure on the council to pass the deal this summer so construction could start in the first half of next year and be ready for games by the 2030 season. 

The proposed deal has received more national attention after President Donald Trump waded in on Sunday, posting on social media about the Commanders’ 2022 name change and threatening to block the deal if the team didn't change it back. It is unclear what mechanisms he would use to do that. 

The federal government still owns the 174-acre site that houses the former RFK Stadium and surrounding fields and parking lots. Legislation signed by then-President Joe Biden in January transferred control over to D.C. through a 99-year ground lease. But some control still lies with the federal government, including architectural reviews. 

Before the council’s first vote on the terms of the deal on Aug. 1, it is scheduled for two hearings next week, with public testimony on Tuesday and government and team official testimony on Wednesday.

It is set to vote on the $1.1B in public funding for the stadium as part of the fiscal year 2026 budget on Monday.

“So they're going to vote on the budget on Monday, they're going to vote on this deal on Friday, and those are days I can live with,” Bowser said.