President Joe Biden signed a bill on Jan. 6 to transfer control of Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium from the federal government to the District of Columbia, paving the way for a possible new stadium for the National Football League’s Washington Commanders.
The bill overwhelmingly passed the House in February 2024 and in the Senate last month.
The legislation prohibits the use of federal funds in transferring control of the 174-acre stadium campus as the District of Columbia will be responsible for all costs related to the transfer in addition to fulfilling certain conditions such as doing a boundary survey of the area.
The local government will lease the land for 99 years and the lease can be extended.
The law paves the way for the stadium, which closed in 2019 and is in poor shape, to be demolished and allow for the Commanders to build their new home if they choose to move back to the nation’s capital, where they played between 1961 and 1996.
The Commanders have played at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Maryland, since 1996, but their lease expires in 2027. The franchise has yet to announce where they will play once it is up. In addition to D.C., Virginia and Maryland remain other possibilities for the team’s new home.
The Commanders, who made the playoffs this year as part of a franchise revival led by rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels, said Biden signing the bill was “a big win for Washington, D.C. and its residents” as the city “can finally move forward on a new vision for the RFK site.”
“We are ready and optimistic about unlocking the full potential of this space, and with more than 170 acres of land we can do it all - deliver housing, economic opportunity, green space, recreation, sports, and more,” she said in a statement.
The bill was initially included in a continuing resolution (CR) to fund the government at current levels through March 14, but it was removed from the final version following criticisms from President-elect Donald Trump and ally and entrepreneur Elon Musk over the overall CR.
Former Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) withdrew their objections to the stadium legislation following a deal between Maryland and D.C. that transfers the D.C. Air National Guard’s 121st Fighter Squadron to the Maryland Air National Guard.
