NOTE: This is a preliminary report on the evolving stadium deal. Be on the lookout for updates that include varying perspectives on this issue.
Since the removal of the RFK campus redevelopment deal from the Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Support Act, tensions have intensified both in the John A. Wilson Building and on the Hill around if and when the D.C. Council will finalize the stadium deal with the Washington Commanders.
After much speculation about whether negotiations would drag well on into the fall— or just fall apart– D.C. Council Chair Phil Mendelson (D) recently announced that the legislative body will conduct its vote on a revised stadium deal as early as Aug. 1.
The second vote, Mendelson noted, would most likely take place on Sept. 17.
“The Commanders’ sense of urgency actually worked to our benefit because what we said to the Commanders was that ‘If you really want an earlier date, then we want to see some changes that make the deal better for citizens of the District,’” Mendelson said on Thursday morning. “That’s the material that has been released, and I’m pleased to say that with regard to revenues, we will see significant revenues coming to the District, to the District’s general fund, and some other changes that are of benefit to the city.”
Mendelson, flanked by D.C. Councilmembers Kenyan McDuffie (I-At large), Brooke Pinto (D-Ward 2), and Wendell Felder (D-Ward 7) in Room 412 of the John A. Wilson Building, outlined the tenets of the new deal, which he said he and the Commanders solidified over the last 10 days.
The vote on the deal, which takes place after two public hearings, will center on a revised term sheet that, according to the council chair, generates more than $900 million in revenue for the District.
If approved, the District would receive $674 million in tax revenue over 30 years, via parking revenue on non-stadium event days, parking taxes, and sales tax on merchandise, food and beverages. The new term sheet also restructures debt financing by not capitalizing interest (paying off debt with interest on the debt) in Fiscal Years 2028 and 2029.
That change, Mendelson said, saves the District nearly $55 million. There’s also a provision redirecting $600 million from the Sports Facility Fee to a transportation improvement fund geared.
Per the term sheet, the Commanders’ senior leadership and sales office will also move their offices to the District. Additionally, a community benefits agreement— initially announced without a dollar amount by Bowser Commanders Managing Partner Josh Harris and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell— now stands at $50 million with a commitment to connect youth sports and education.
Mendelson called the aforementioned part of a framework that will become clearer in the coming weeks, especially as the council and Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development collaborate around next steps.
“If you look under that bill now, it will reflect what the mayor had submitted, but not yet the changes. All that is going to have to be drafted over the next several days, and we will make available as soon as possible,” Mendelson said. “Subsequent to that, there will be a negotiation between the deputy mayor for planning and economic development [Nina Albert], DMPED, and the team to work out the details for what’s called the development financing agreement, or DFA.”
That document, Mendelson said, will contain what he described as the more minute details of the revised deal.
“Do not expect [a] fine-grained level of detail in the legislation,” Mendelson said. “A lot of that will be in the DFA, and then subsequently in the leases that will be negotiated.”
A Stadium Deal to be Finalized under Pressure
Mendelson’s announcement took place amid inquiries, and threats, from Republican leadership in regard to the stadium deal.
In his letter to Mendelson last week, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) expressed disappointment in the vote delay and called on the council to finalize the stadium legislation before its summer recess.
More recently, President Donald J. Trump, in a social media post, threatened to nix the stadium deal if the Commanders don’t embrace their former name— though it’s debatable whether he has the authority to do so.
Meanwhile, Mayor Bowser, at what seems like every opportunity, continues to press for a finalized deal.
By Wednesday, when the Aug. 1 council vote was just a rumor, Bowser, with Felder just feet away from her, relished in the prospect of the council voting on the stadium deal, sooner rather than later. Shortly before breaking ground on the Fort Davis Community Center, Bowser elicited cheers and sounds of agreement in speaking about the need for a sportsplex on RFK campus.
“We don’t want our kids to experience anything short of a world-class stadium,” Bowser said after criticism for what she called its “swiping” of funds proposed for Ward 7-based recreation facilities over the last couple of budget cycles. “This is not the football stadium. This is an additional center that we will build at RFK that [D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation] will make fantastic.”
Bowser pointed out that youth in competitive sports have no District-based options for exhibitions.
“Right now if our kids are doing indoor track, where do they have to do it?” Bowser asked. “If our kids are competitive cheerleaders, where do they go? If our kids are competitive gymnastics where do they go? Okay so this is a real need. This is not a ‘nice to’ [do].’ This is a must do because that is one thing that’s going to help us close the link in our youth sports continuum.”
In the weeks and months following Bowser’s stadium deal announcement, D.C. council members have heard from residents on both sides of the issue. They also had, as an information source, the Robert Bobb Group’s RFK campus real estate evaluation.
The real estate evaluation, which dropped on July 15, pointed to “several notable risks” including: uncertainty about who would be responsible for maintaining the stadium and surrounding parcels of land; construction delays that reduce construction tax revenue; decline in sports facility fee revenue; the probable lack of development in the Riverfront District; traffic congestion; and lack of a public safety plan.
Another document that made the rounds was a proposed community benefits agreement that Felder’s office prepared after gathering information at three large-scale town halls and five community listening sessions. Other tools that, according to Felder’s office, shaped the community benefits agreement included online community surveys, written submissions and recommendations, and the launch of a nine-member community advisory board.
If the proposed CBA, in its current form, comes to fruition, it would include: incentives for hiring returning citizens and District youth; a 70% local first source hiring requirement with the stipulation that no fewer than 40% of those hired come from Ward 7; procurement opportunities for Ward 7 certified business enterprises; the launch of an on-campus business center and vending opportunities for Ward 7-based businesses.
Other elements include an annual Ward 7 community day, community ticket access program, HBCU activations and a plan to attract a grocer to RFK campus. In regard to youth engagement, the proposed community benefits agreement mandates the development of a career pathways and internship training program for high school and college students.
Other provisions center on the launch of a youth advisory council and Ward 7 scholarship fund along with community wellness institutions, safe passage programs, accessibility for seniors and disabled residents, and a $10 million affordable housing and anti-displacement fund to be disbursed by the D.C. Department of Housing and Community Development in collaboration with a designated nonprofit organization.
Felder, who at one point in the FY26 budget deliberation process, questioned Mendelson’s veracity about finalizing a stadium deal, said that the $50 million figure attached to the community benefits agreement gives more clarity in how the document will be executed.
“Now that we have a dollar figure, that just allows us to think about how we want to disperse the resources,” Felder said before identifying his two top priorities in the execution of the community benefits agreement. “Opportunities for small and local businesses, more jobs, workforce development opportunities…those are the things that come to mind.
A Local Business Owner Speaks
As of press time, it’s not clear where the 12-member council falls on the revised deal. However, Mendelson appears confident that the legislative body will make it to the finish line.
“I’m confident that we will have the necessary votes on Aug. 1,” Mendelson said on Thursday.
By the time Mendelson revealed the new proposed terms, Brightwood resident Tiffany Tate had been in the throes of a campaign to compel the council’s finalization of a stadium deal. Tate, one of three co-chairs under what’s known as the RFK Now! movement, has spent the last few days engaging District residents and encouraging them to contact their council members in demand of a deal.
When asked about the prospect of negotiations soon wrapping up, Tate said that’s the best scenario for the District during a period of economic uncertainty.
“I do want the deal and I want this done because the longer we wait, that’s more time for Maryland and Virginia to come,” Tate told The Informer on Thursday morning.
Tate, a business owner and D.C. resident of nearly a decade, said part of her job is combatting a notion that the RFK campus will become a “billionaire’s playground,” as derogatorily described by District residents against the stadium deal. With the Commanders paying for the stadium itself, many of her conversations with District residents have centered on the use of the space surrounding the stadium.
“I want there to be projects that we support that urge that economic opportunity, especially when you think about what this project can mean for the city. That’s 16,000 jobs, 6,500 new housing with a third of that having to be promised to be affordable,” Tate told The Informer.
As a business owner and someone with a family, Tate emphasized she wants “D.C. to get better.”
“I want our economic vitality to improve,” Tate continued. “I don’t know any person who doesn’t want to live in an economic, you know, developed city.”
