Commanders Unveil Renderings For New D.C. Football Stadium
The vision for the stadium planned to bring D.C.'s NFL franchise back to the city is coming into focus.
The Washington Commanders and HKS, the global architecture firm the team picked in November to design the stadium, on Thursday morning revealed new exterior renderings of the venue.
The stadium is projected to open in 2030. The release says it will accommodate 70,000-plus people, more than the previously announced 65,000 seats. The stadium is planned to anchor a mixed-use district with up to 6,000 housing units, plus hotels, restaurants and retail.
The renderings feature white columns around the stadium's exterior, evoking the classical architectural style of iconic D.C. structures like the Capitol and Lincoln Memorial, which both sit due west of the stadium. President Donald Trump's pick to lead the National Capital Planning Commission — which must approve the designs — last month called for the stadium to incorporate classical elements “in keeping with the capital more generally.”
The team's press release doesn't say that it was designed in response to this call for classical style, but statements from the development team and the mayor allude to it fitting within the city's architecture.
Commanders President Mark Clouse said the concept “is worthy of its extraordinary site along DC's monumental axis and truly embodies the spirit and character of the District.”
HKS said in a social media post that the design “draws inspiration from D.C.'s iconic monumental architecture.”
“Monumental in presence, grounded in the L'Enfant Plan and scaled to the urban fabric of the District, the stadium design will be a bold civic landmark that carries the city’s architectural legacy forward in a way that is confident, dynamic and unmistakably Washington, DC,” HKS Global Venues Director Mark Williams said in a statement.
The renderings also show a transparent roof, which team officials previously said would allow the venue to host events year-round, including the Super Bowl.
HKS has designed three other NFL venues: SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles for the Rams and Chargers, U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis for the Vikings, and AT&T Stadium in Dallas for the Cowboys.
The Commanders and Mayor Muriel Bowser in April announced a $3.8B deal to build the stadium and surrounding development on the 174-acre RFK Stadium site, and the D.C. Council gave its approval in September. The team played at RFK until 1996 before moving to its current home in Landover, Maryland, which it plans to depart for the new stadium.
Bowser praised the design in Thursday's release as a “beautiful and unique waterfront stadium.”
“I’m grateful for the shared commitment from both the Commanders and HKS to designing an iconic stadium that honors the history of our city — and our skyline — while also being a true catalyst for future opportunity at the RFK campus,” she said.
The NFL team has hired at least three veterans of local development firm JBG Smith to lead the project: Andy VanHorn as head of real estate, Matt Haas as head of construction and Ben Spiritos as director of development.
