Big news in the Commanders stadium saga: according to a report in the Washington Post, Rep. James Comer is preparing to introduce legislation that could allow DC to build “a football stadium or another mixed-use development at the decrepit RFK Stadium site.”
Comer (R-Ky.) is the head of the House Oversight Committee that oversees DC, and spokesperson Austin Hacker confirmed to WaPo that talks are ongoing with D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, but Comer is preparing legislation that would allow the District to develop the RFK site, which is federal land, but not have to purchase it.
According to WaPo sources, the legislation could involve a 99-year lease extension and modification that would open more options for the city, as the current RFK lease with the National Park Service, which runs through 2038, restricts its use to “sports, recreation and entertainment.”
Bowser has long been a proponent of bringing the Commanders back home to D.C., and federal legislation would be the first step in what would still be a long, complicated process towards that. The City Council has been divided on the issue, in large part due to the transgressions of Daniel Snyder, but new ownership, which is expected to be ratified in two weeks, has changed that calculus potentially.
Still, per WaPo, DC House Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, who has said she would not introduce federal legislation allowing the District to purchase RFK until Bowser and City Council Chair Phil Mendelson – who is against a stadium at the RFK site – reached an agreement on the terms and conditions of the legislation, reacted negatively to Comer’s legislation.
“Chairman Comer has repeatedly demonstrated a fixation for meddling in D.C.’s affairs in his committee’s recent hearings, even though he is not a D.C. resident and he does not represent D.C. in Congress,” Norton told WaPo. “The future of the RFK site should be decided by a consensus between the D.C. Council and the Mayor, who have been entrusted to represent the best interests of D.C. residents.”
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