The Washington Commanders president gave a group of local business leaders a glimpse of what to expect from a new stadium in D.C. if the deal is approved — potentially including hosting big events beyond football.
Commanders President Mark Clouse spoke at the D.C. Economic Club luncheon Monday. Mostly, he spoke mostly about his career that brought him to Washington, but he did make a few comments about the team’s vision for a new stadium, including owner Josh Harris’ desire to recreate the feel of RFK Stadium’s heyday when the bleachers would bounce.
“I'm like, well, I'll stand behind your chair and shake it if you want,” Clouse joked.
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“Much more than just simply building a stadium,” he said. “This is an opportunity to take 180 acres that should be the crown jewel of the District and turn it into both an economic and community engine that is going to be absolutely part of the roadmap for the future, and living into that, but in a contemporary, relevant way that feels like you are at the absolutely premiere facility in all of sports.
"And that's the goal with a view that looks up the Mall and that is iconic, but yet, you know, fierce," Clouse continued. "And that's what we're building.”
He also reaffirmed the plan that the new stadium would have a dome.
“There is a roof on the stadium, and I think that's gonna enable us to bring, you know, 30-to-40 world-class events,” Clouse said. “I mean, we will be the only roofed facility of this size in the Mid-Atlantic, and so, you know, whether that's Taylor Swift or the Final Four or — any WWE wrestling fans out there? — WrestleMania could come, but we are going to be able to host everything that's in the city on a national stage. And because of that roof, it gives us a chance to actually create a pipeline of jobs and development.”
Clouse also mentioned one of the amenities neighbors of the RFK Stadium campus have been asking for: a new grocery store.
“There's a pipeline here of real jobs that can be created and thus then start to create this economic engine, which would be housing, grocery store, services, transportation, all the things that are great," he said. "And the good news is we're starting from a site that actually had a stadium, so a lot of the infrastructure thinking was contemplated in the original RFK.”