The Washington Commanders are finally on the right track, sitting at (9-5) with a chance to make the playoffs in their first year under their new owner, general manager, rookie quarterback, and a roster that has been revamped from last year’s four-win squad.
Since Josh Harris and the new ownership group purchased the team, there has been a breath of fresh air and new excitement around the NFL organisation, which was utterly absent under Dan Synder’s leadership. Snyder produced major problems both on and off the pitch, from wrangling over personnel decisions to scandals and crimes that tarnished one of the league’s most renowned organisations.
While Harris made it clear that his first goal was to establish the groundwork for a squad capable of competing for titles on an annual basis, the need for a new stadium has remained at the top of his priority list since owning the Commanders.
The team’s current home game facility, Northwest Stadium, is in Maryland and has been rated as one of the worst stadiums in sports.
Almost every die-hard Washington fan wants the new stadium to be built in Washington, D.C., on the same site as the old RFK Stadium, where the greatest moments in club history occurred under Joe Gibbs in the 1980s and 1990s.
According to the Associated Press, the Commanders were on the verge of completing a crucial milestone that would allow them to build a new stadium in D.C. on the old RFK site.
“A provision in Congress’ short-term financing measure, which lawmakers are rushing to adopt, transfers the land that once housed the historic RFK Stadium from the federal government to the District of Columbia. It’s a huge success for the organisation and the NFL after controlling owner Josh Harris and Commissioner Roger Goodell lobbied lawmakers on Capitol Hill about the D.C. Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium Campus Revitalisation Act earlier this month.”
But one day later, the AP and other news sites reported a big change, and it’s now unclear whether the Commanders will ever be able to reach an agreement to return to D.C.
“A provision to transfer the land that is the site of the old RFK Stadium from the federal government to the District of Columbia is no longer included in Congress’ slimmed-down, short-term spending bill that lawmakers are racing to pass before a government shutdown.”
The sudden turn of events was triggered by a tweet from Elon Musk, who will be a member of the Trump administration, stating that the proposed $3 billion stadium “should not be funded by tax dollars.”
Mayor Muriel Bowser of Washington, D.C., addressed on Thursday, outlining the finances involved in the proposed land transfer.
“There are no federal dollars related to the transfer of RFK, and in fact the legislation doesn’t require or link at all to a stadium.”
According to ESPN, if the law passes, the government will lease the land to D.C. for 99 years, with no taxpayer money involved. However, following Musk’s tweet, it appears that the government has transferred the land of the old RFK site from the government to D.C. is no longer included in the bill, leading fans and media to believe that the Washington Commanders are further away than ever from returning to D.C. as their permanent home.
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