The Commanders are headed for the playoffs and generating excitement rarely seen since the franchise’s 1980s and early ‘90s heyday. Is a return to Washington D.C. next?
Armed with the Rookie of the Year favorite at quarterback under the fledgling ownership of Josh Harris, the Washington Commanders are headed for the postseason and generating excitement rarely seen since the franchise’s 1980s and early 90s heyday.
Is a return from Maryland to Washington, D.C. next?
A bill that was previously passed by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden on Monday paves the way. Biden signed the RFK Memorial Stadium Campus Revitalization Act into law on Monday, weeks after it passed in the U.S. Senate.
The law transfers control of the RFK Stadium site in Washington from the federal government to local District of Columbia authorities. In short, it opens the door for a new stadium to be built at the old RFK stadium site that hosted the franchise during its Joe Gibbs-era glory days.
Josh Harris joins Joe Biden in Oval Office
Biden’s signature concludes a contentious saga around the act that was initially included as a provision in a short-term government funding package to avert a shutdown before being scuttled in Congress via an effort by President-elect Donald Trump and his ally Elon Musk on Dec 17. The bill passed as a standalone act via a unanimous vote of the U.S. Senate on Dec. 21.
Biden’s signature was the last step in making the bill a law. Harris joined Biden in the White House on Monday for a signing ceremony in the Oval Office.
President Biden’s signature of the “D.C. Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium Campus Revitalization Act” is a big win for Washington, D.C. and its residents. Washington can finally move forward on a new vision for the RFK site.
We look forward to being a part of that… pic.twitter.com/2OxUJjlXzS
— Washington Commanders (@Commanders) January 6, 2025
“President Biden’s signature of the ‘D.C. Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium Campus Revitalization Act’ is a big win for Washington, D.C. and its residents,” a Commanders statement reads. “Washington can finally move forward on a new vision for the RFK site. We look forward to being a part of that conversation as we evaluate a future home for the Washington Commanders.”
New era, new D.C. Commanders stadium?
RFK Stadium is located on the east side of Washington, D.C. alongside the Anacostia River. It hosted the franchise from 1961 to 1996, a timeframe that saw Washington advance to five Super Bowls and win three. Gibbs led Washington to four of those Super Bowl appearances and all three wins in a 10-year span from 1982-91.
The franchise moved in 1997 to its current home in Landover, Maryland that was known primarily known as FedEx Field before being renamed Northwest Stadium when FedEx ended its naming-rights agreement in 2024. The stadium is frequently derided as one of the NFL’s worst and is largely associated with the dysfunctional ownership era of Dan Snyder (1999-2022) known for losing on the field and scandal off of it.
As the franchise languished under Snyder, the RFK Stadium site fell into disrepair while under the control of the federal government. The stadium has sat vacant since 2019 and has been approved for demolition, though it remains intact.
Harris, a childhood fan of the team who took controlling ownership in 2023, has made the franchise’s return to D.C. a priority since buying the Commanders.
“Some of my earliest memories were of Washington football and walking into RFK,” Harris said in 2024, per NBC Washington.”… I lived through all of that, right? I’m incredibly motivated to bring it back, and so this is emotional for me. You know, it’s not just business. It’s about the city, the franchise, the fans, and doing what’s right to bring the team back to where it needs to be.”
Feuds and fighter jets
A potential move back to D.C. has involved political bickering and maneuvering on state, federal and municipal levels including an unorthodox proposal in December from Maryland’s U.S. senators, Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen. The senators asked for the District to trade fighter jets to Maryland in exchange for their cooperation in approving the bill to clear the transfer of the RFK Stadium site.
Maryland got its fighter jets, per a Dec. 21 statement from the U.S. Air Force:
“The Air Force has agreed to transfer the 121st Fighter Squadron from the DC Air National Guard to the Maryland Air National Guard.”
The path for the Commanders’ return been cleared. Now comes the hard part — actually planning and building a stadium and moving the team. In the meantime, the Commanders and their fans can revel in the excitement generated by Jayden Daniels and their first playoff appearance since the 2020 season.
