With the deadline for the D.C. Council to give preliminary approval for the Washington Commanders stadium deal less than a month away, the Council’s plans remain unclear.
While Council Chairman Phil Mendelson has promised at least parts of the legislation will be voted on by July 15, councilmembers have discussed the possibility of delaying parts of the bill in hopes of getting what they call a better deal.
Since Mayor Muriel Bowser and team owner Josh Harris announced they reached a [deal to bring the Commanders back to the RFK Stadium site](https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/washington-commanders-football-nfl-rfk-new-stadium-dc-live-updates/3900481/), they have been clear about the July 15 deadline.
“The Commanders have a very specific timeline in order for them to be able to open in 2030, which they need to open in 2030,” Bowser said. “So, we wouldn't want that to slip and we wouldn't want it to
slip to an indefinite period of time.”
“I would be concerned that that money wouldn't be there, that a vote wouldn't happen or that people think that it could wait until next year, and then I'm pretty sure that the Commanders would have to look at their other options,” she said.
But councilmembers, including Mendelson, have pushed back on the deadline.
“What I have said all along is it will be extremely difficult for the Council to act on a $4 billion project in less than six weeks, especially when we have full time to spend on the budget in those same six weeks,” Mendelson said.
“We don't have a lot of wiggle room, and so it's really important where in maybe some circumstances, it might seem like a couple of months is not that big a deal, but in the world we're in, it's quite significant,” a Commanders spokesperson said. “I will say I think the conversations with city council and of course the partnership with the mayor have been incredibly constructive.
“There are certain things we cannot do until we have that agreement and vote – getting things like the permits, zoning, all that preliminary work,” the rep said. “But as you start to quote some of those dates out into the fall, that's a real problem.”
As for the cost of tickets at the stadium, the team acknowledged season ticketholders will have to buy personal seat licenses – an added cost on top of the price of the tickets that could raise hundreds of millions of dollars for the team.
But the team is open to the idea of a section of low-cost seats reserved for D.C. residents.
“We want to make sure that all of our fans at every economic level can participate in this, and so what I think you can expect from us is a variety of different ways in which personal seat licenses show up from a cost standpoint, starting with affordability for those that have been longtime committed fans to the team,” the Commanders spokesperson said.
The team is considering the possibility of a section reserved for affordable seats.
“We do not want to create a circumstance, especially coming back into the spiritual home of Washington football, not to be able to accommodate all of our fanbase and being able to afford coming to a game,” the rep said. “This idea of a section or a destination in the stadium that accommodates that and also creates what we would hope would be a pretty rowdy and maybe a nod to the heritage of RFK history as a pretty loud and powerful part of our fanbase inside the stadium, which we think will be great for football.”
Many residents have said they want a new grocery store as part of the development, which the team is keenly aware of.
“Our goal is in the early phases of development is to ensure that there is a grocery store along with other services that will be really important to sustain the community,” the team representative said.
The spokesperson said it’s too early to talk about whether the new stadium would offer any type of sports betting on site as they currently offer at Northwest Stadium.