It’s almost officially official: the Washington Commanders appear to be headed back to RFK Stadium, with the Mayor’s Office and the team to collaborate on a press conference at 11 a.m. Monday to make a major announcement about the site.
That press conference will be carried live on both 106.7 The Fan and The Team 980.
It was less than two weeks ago that NBC4’s Mark Segraves reported the two sides were ‘in the red zone’ of a nearly $3 billion deal to bring the Commanders home to the RFK site, and several sources Sunday night confirmed that deal has been struck, and will be announced Monday.
The deal will reportedly be a public/private partnership, with the District putting up over a half-billion dollars in some form, a number D.C. Council Chair (and noted oppositionist) Phil Mendelson expressed concern over in a statement to WJLA-TV.
“The cost to the District will be at least $856M, and I continue to be concerned with investing any public money into a stadium while we have constrained budgets and revenues, and unmet needs," Mendelson told ABC7 in a statement through his spokesperson, following up on a WaPo statement earlier this month where he reiterated his stance that ‘there should not be public dollars’ involved in a stadium deal.
Whatever the District puts in, this marks the second major investment in the sports landscape in town in the last six months, following the District’s pledge to Ted Leonsis to provide $515 million dollars for a multi-year, multi-stage renovation and refurbishment of Capital One Arena and the surrounding area.
And, most importantly, it means this: the Washington football franchise is coming home, and all four major sports will reside in the District for the first time ever once the new stadium opens.