Ben Peters gives G&D the latest on DC hiring a consulting firm to maybe figure out how to get the Commanders to RFK
Ben Peters of the Washington Business Journal did a lot of research on the city of DC trying to find more funding for perhaps a new Commanders stadium, and came upon a bombshell: DC has hired a consulting firm from Los Angeles to help figure out how to turn RFK back into Commanders land?
“The District has hired a consultant called ASM Global, which is an entertainment facilities management firm that manages a handful of NFL stadiums,” Peters told Grant & Danny on Wednesday. “They basically handed this firm about half a million dollars and said, ‘hey, we want to bring the Commanders back to Washington, can you draw up a really detailed plan for how we can do that and how we can pay for it?’”
DC hired consultants for a similar mission over the last year, or so Danny thought, but this time is a little different?
“This contract is asking this firm to not necessarily determine the feasibility of it, but to say, what do we need to do in order to make the numbers on this check out for the District?” Peters said. “It’s how are we gonna pay for this and attract the NFL here? It wasn't so much the feasibility as it was like a little bit more the finer details of it. I think that by hiring this consultant, they've said that, hey, we do kind of think it's feasible, we want you to show us more details about that.”
GP thinks that’s pretty clear, so is this the most concerted effort so far, beyond legislation to get the RFK land back in District hands, to get the Commanders back home?
“I think it’s a big deal; at the end of the day, it, again, just the District asking another firm to come up with ideas for them, but they're putting their money where their mouth is,” Peters said. “It’s clear that the Bowser Administration really wants to bring the Commanders back to DC, specifically at RFK.”
DC did give Ted Leonsis half a billion dollars to upgrade Capital One Arena – or so we think, considering paperwork hasn’t been finalized there – so it’s widely assumed there isn’t any more money for the Commanders.
But, there was thought they didn’t have that money for Leonsis, either, so…
“Yeah, I don't know, and I think that might be answered a little bit more clearly whenever this consulting firm finishes up their report and sends it back to the District,” Peters said. “Again, right now, this is just the District paying this consulting firm to write this report and answer that very question, so I think that that's kind of TBD.”
Oh, yeah, and don’t forget that said legislation for the RFK site isn’t finalized, either, nor is the City Council officially on board.
“I’m not so sure how the District's handling that, but there's uncertainty about whether or not this bill is gonna clear the Senate,” Peters said. “There's been some opposition on both sides of the aisle, particularly with Maryland senators, about not wanting to advance this because they want to keep the Commanders in Maryland, and that is one of, if not the biggest hold-ups right now standing in the way of this happening, before we even start talking about financing and site plans and all that. The District right now does not control RFK, and the only way that they can do that is with congressional approval – and generally speaking, the (City Council chair Phil Mendelson) and other members of the council have been pretty clear that they do not want to spend public dollars on a new stadium.”
