Monday was ‘quite the press event’ for the Commanders, with the team and Mayor Muriel Bowser announcing a deal worth close to $4 billion total to bring the team back to RFK Stadium.
DC Council Chair Phil Mendelson is skeptical, though, saying that the council doesn’t have many details (or at least didn’t as of Monday), and told Kevin Sheehan that not much has changed in the week since.
That camaraderie with the Commanders noted, though, perhaps, Mendelson admits, Monday was the beginning of a negotiation, not necessarily a line in the sand.
“Yes, although I think the Mayor tried to paint it as the end of the negotiation and put the best gloss on it, which is fine. That’s the way these always roll out,” Mendelson said. “I know that in the past, with Nationals Park and Audi Field, that the initial deals negotiated by the mayor were more generous than the final deals that the council approved in terms of tax abatements and what the city's share of expenses would be. The city has divided the total site, which is scores of acres, into six districts, and there’s the stadium parcel, and the Commanders will be given development control over two other parcels, and we know very little of the details there. So, I would say all of this is subject to negotiation.”
Take a listen to Mendelson’s entire visit with Kevin Sheehan above!