Top Menu

New Hope for New Redskins Stadium at RFK Site?

Washington NFL stadium designed by Bjarke Ingels

With the election of Donald Trump as president, there’s a sense that the RFK Stadium site could once again be home to NFL football and the Washington Redskins with a change in the Department of the Interior leadership.

There has been plenty of sentiment about a new Redskins stadium in the District of Columbia, as RFK Stadium is set to be torn down once a new D.C. United stadium opens. Events DC manages the site under a long-term lease from the National Park Service, which is overseen by the Department of the Interior. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell has opposed a new Redskins stadium at the site, arguing that the Redskins moniker was a relic of the past and should be eliminated.

But there’s not widespread agreement that the name should be changed, and with a Trump administration, governmental opposition to the name probably will go away. And that could open up the site to a new long-term lease with Events DC, paving the way for a new Redskins stadium. D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser is in favor of a new Redskins stadium at the site, and with team owner Dan Snyder already preparing some conceptual drawings of a new Redskins stadium (as shown above), the pieces are certainly coming into place.

From the Washington Post:

Asked at a Wednesday press conference whether Trump and the federal government potentially dropping opposition to the Redskins name could improve the odds for a stadium in D.C., Bowser said regardless of the election result she was expecting she would have to approach the post-Obama administration on the issue.

“We always knew that on January 21st that conversation would restart, regardless of what happened” on Election Day, she said.

Bowser’s deputy mayor for planning and economic development, Brian Kenner, said he didn’t know yet “what kind of an effect the Trump administration is going to have” on prospects for the team.

There is no doubt the current RFK site would be perfect for a new Redskins stadium: there’s plenty of transit access, and there’s a long history of pro football there.

RELATED STORIES: Baker: Do Not Rule Out PG County for Redskins; Dulles a Consideration for Loudon County in Redskins PursuitMcAuliffe Continues Stadium PitchVa. Gov: We Expect to Land New Redskins Stadium

, , ,

August Publications