Is the RFK site really a possibility for the Commanders, even with the pending legislation that could help DC lease the site for longer and build a mixed-use development?
Danny Rouhier thinks Maryland is ahead of the game on a new Commanders stadium, based on DC needing to get the federal approval to get the RFK land and Virginia not even having anything in committee in terms of getting something going – and when Sam Fortier of WaPo joined Danny Tuesday, he somewhat agreed, but wasn’t sure if just building on the current FedEx Field site or somewhere very nearby would be a short-term fix but a long-term regret.
“You’re right that FedEx is the easiest thing, because you can roll it out ASAP, but this to me is the most interesting question of the Harris era,” Fortier said. “You just came from Dan Snyder, who was all about winning the offseason and making financial sense, even if was selling expired peanuts – so Harris is in an interesting position where they want to show immediate gains, but not go so fast that they do the same things Snyder did. You have to do the right thing long-term, but don’t want it to take too long so people grow impatient. If you’re going to do toe stadium in DC or Virginia, it might take longer than people want.”
Not being Dan Snyder is worth a lot of gravitas right off the bat, but as Danny even said, ‘you need some carrots to dangle in front of the fans,’ and a new stadium is the ultimate carrot. But, how patient can the fan base be, and how much should Harris expect from them?
“There’s a lease to play at FedEx 2027, but if they want to play there longer, they can – so, like, if a new stadium would be done in 2032, they could stay at FedEx until then,” Fortier said. “But how much grace do you get for not being Dan Snyder? Is 2024 or 2025 too far away to please the fan base, if Josh Harris says he wants to sit and wait and see how all the legislation plays out in all three locales?”
Danny is all about little nuggets of hope as time goes on, and thinks Harris needs to make an announcement within a year or so, even if it’s not a ground-breaking, just to show progress.
“In August 2024, if we are talking about even some stick renderings of a new RFK, do you think that’s enough?” Fortier asked. “You have six to 12 months to evaluate what you have, and then put your pieces in place. But, by the time we hit a year, you have to have your pillars in place and be confident they can execute, so you can move on to big projects. Stadiums are very important to the owners and the league in terms of profitability and franchise value, so you have to have something in place there sooner or on that timeline for your colleagues. To me, it’s come in, identify, evaluate, and then start making moves quickly and decisively.”
Follow Grant & Danny on Twitter: @granthpaulsen & @funnydanny
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