The push for the Washington Commanders' new stadium to be built in Washington D.C. at the site of the franchise's former home, RFK Stadium, is facing opposition in the U.S. Senate from Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen, who is working to keep the team playing in the state he represents.
The opposition from the Maryland senator was first chronicled by Thom Loverro, with the Senate having a say over the terms of the leasing of the federal land for the RFK Stadium site.
Now, Van Hollen told WUSA9's Eric Flack in a statement that he plans to "ensure a fair process in the selection of a Commanders stadium site and prevent actions that unfairly tilt the scales in favor of one location over another at the expense of federal taxpayers.”
Van Hollen's statement added, “Our priority is not to block the transfer of the RFK property from the National Park Service to the District of Columbia," indicating granting the D.C. government control of the site, but not for a new football stadium.
Kevin Sheehan pointed out that Van Hollen – and Montana Sen. Steve Daines who has objections to the deal due to a lack of Native American imagery in the team's name and logo – to get legislation through Congress to give D.C. control of the land for the stadium.
"When it passed in the House it seemed like a forgone conclusion," Sheehan said of the Senate bill's counterpart. "It is anything but that now.
"Most of you, like me, want to see the new stadium – by the time the build the stadium it's gonna be a long time from now – but want to see it in D.C., want to see it at the RFK site. But this now has multiple obstacles and that's before you even get to whether or not D.C. would be able to come up with a deal that would be favorable to Josh Harris and the team."
A spokesperson for the team declined to comment about the RFK legislation before Congress but did say the organization is "looking at three jurisdictions for the new stadium: Maryland, D.C., and Virginia."
"We remain eager to find the perfect location for our fans, our team, and the region," the statement to WUSA9 read.
Despite all that, Sheehan still thinks that somehow deals will be reached and legislation will get passed and the new stadium will be built at the RFK site. However, if he was over 70 percent chance it would get done before, he is "barely over 50 percent" that it will get done right now.
"The path of least resistance is clearly Landover," Sheehan said. "They own the land, Maryland wants them, Maryland will participate – they got plans to build up around that area as well. And the cost to the team will be the least amount possible."