OT: Washington Commanders 2025-26 thread | Football is fun again Edition

[usiel]

Hoe-lee shit-ballz! Looks like it's signed, sealed and delivered: the boys are coming home:

Commanders, D.C. reach deal for stadium at RFK

The Commanders agreed to a deal with the District of Columbia to build a new stadium at the RFK site.

www.espn.com

Looking forward to stadium designs.

VA no chance with the idiot current governor.

 

[stanleycaps18]

Hoe-lee shit-ballz! Looks like it's signed, sealed and delivered: the boys are coming home:

Commanders, D.C. reach deal for stadium at RFK

The Commanders agreed to a deal with the District of Columbia to build a new stadium at the RFK site.

www.espn.com

Probably a quid pro quo for DC budget deal with congress, a win-win for Mayor Bowser if so.

 

[John Price]

Great move, we'll see if they can cross the finish line. Apparently some of the council still are worried about the impact on the taxpayer

 

[John Price]

 

[John Price]

 

[max21]

So it’s officially a done deal?

 

[John Price]

So it’s officially a done deal?

Mostly, but the Caps to VA was a "done deal" with a ceremony before it got nixed by NIMBY and other stuff. So until construction begins...anything can happen

 

[John Price]

More insight

 

[tenken00]

Mostly, but the Caps to VA was a "done deal" with a ceremony before it got nixed by NIMBY and other stuff. So until construction begins...anything can happen

To be fair, things look much different from negotiating with Daniel Snyder than with the Harris group.

 

[John Price]

To be fair, things look much different from negotiating with Daniel Snyder than with the Harris group.

Yeah we have heard about RFK and the Commanders for months now and they are very close to a reality now. The VA and MD projects haven't gathered as much steam.


Once Congress sold the land back to DC that opened up the gates.

 

[tenken00]

Paywalled (The Washington Post), but:

D.C., Commanders announce $3.7B deal to move team to RFK Stadium site

D.C., Commanders announce $3.7B deal to move team to RFK Stadium site​

The development, anchored by a roofed, 65,000-seat stadium, will be funded primarily by the Commanders, who would put up $2.7 billion, while D.C. taxpayers would pay $500 million.

D.C. and the Washington Commanders have reached a $3.7 billion deal to transform the crumbling RFK Stadium site on the banks of the Anacostia River into a new home for the team surrounded by retail, housing and park space — a generational development project likely to shape the legacy of Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) and Commanders owner Josh Harris.

Sprawling across 177 waterfront acres, the massive development anchored by a roofed, 65,000-seat stadium will be funded primarily by the Commanders, who would put up $2.7 billion, while D.C. taxpayers would pay $500 million toward infrastructure supporting the stadium, according to the terms released Monday.
But total taxpayer costs are expected to top $1 billion when parking facilities, recreation improvements and other water and electric infrastructure are included — a price tag likely to spur heated debate on the D.C. Council and among D.C. residents about how public money is used....

Indoor stadium? I don't know about that...

Maybe if the roof is retractable?

 

[tenken00]

Yeah we have heard about RFK and the Commanders for months now and they are very close to a reality now. The VA and MD projects haven't gathered as much steam.


Once Congress sold the land back to DC that opened up the gates.

*virtual like*

 

[John Price]

Paywalled, but:

D.C., Commanders announce $3.7B deal to move team to RFK Stadium site



Indoor stadium? I don't know about that...

Maybe if the roof is retractable?

probably won't be, but for months there's been reports bowser and the team want an indoor stadium. They're trying to maximize value for the stadium. Gone are the days where a stadium is used 8 days a year for football, plus playoff games. A recent tweet had the commanders and DC expecting over 20 events at the new RFK, including concerts. They want Wrestlemania there, super bowls, Taylor Swift, World Cup games in the future.

This is not just a football stadium anymore.

 

[tenken00]

probably won't be, but for months there's been reports bowser and the team want an indoor stadium. They're trying to maximize value for the stadium. Gone are the days where a stadium is used 8 days a year for football, plus playoff games. A recent tweet had the commanders and DC expecting over 20 events at the new RFK, including concerts. They want Wrestlemania there, super bowls, Taylor Swift, World Cup games in the future.

This is not just a football stadium anymore.

Watching the LA Rams struggle in the snow against Philadelphia in the playoffs last year made me appreciate how weather can be an advantage to our teams on the East Coast and Midwest.

Keep it retractable at least. Although that might add to cost.

 

[John Price]

Probably posted about this before but this is the least taxpayer funded stadium in a while. I believe Jerry World was fully privately funded by Jerry himself but let's face it that's not going to happen for most teams.



The fact that only 25% of this is funded by taxpayers is pretty intriguing, considering the Bills stadium (49%) and Titans stadium (60%)

 

[John Price]

 

[kicksavedave]

Tailgating will be more difficult in the new stadium. The team’s current home — Northwest Stadium in Landover, Maryland — has about 22,000 parking spaces, while the new stadium will have approximately 8,000, which will all eventually be in a garage.

This doesn't sound interesting at all. So when they say "more difficult", given its mostly a garage, it will be nearly impossible. No RVs, no big tents, no grilling except maybe the top row?

I guess if there are plenty of restaurants on the site it would mitigate some of the loss. Tailgaiting at RFK was a fond memory of my younger days before I moved to Cali and I KNOW a lot of people enjoyed it, including at Fed Ex. In fact for two decades tailgating was the best thing that ever happened at Fed Ex.

 

[kicksavedave]

Also 65,000 would be really small, close to lowest in the league, so ticket prices will have to be higher than a Giraffe's ass. It also says there will be PSLs, which means you have to buy the rights to buy the tickets which is just a naked way to raise the total price of the tickets.

 

[John Price]

Also 65,000 would be really small, close to lowest in the league, so ticket prices will have to be higher than a Giraffe's ass. It also says there will be PSLs, which means you have to buy the rights to buy the tickets which is just a naked way to raise the total price of the tickets.

I have season tickets now I pay about 500 dollars I expect that to rise especially when they move into the new stadium.

By how much is the question. I mean I can take it to some extent, already have 2500 on Caps STH

 

[tenken00]

Also 65,000 would be really small, close to lowest in the league, so ticket prices will have to be higher than a Giraffe's ass. It also says there will be PSLs, which means you have to buy the rights to buy the tickets which is just a naked way to raise the total price of the tickets.

That's actually almost 10,000 more than what the original RFK held back in the day for football.

Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium​

56 692

United States of America

Washington

-

01.10.1961 (Washington Redskins - New York Giants, NFL)

58 012 (USA - Portugal, 1996)

$ 24mln

2400 East Capitol Street, SE, Washington, DC

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Still tiny compared to Jerry World or even FedEx Field (Northwest Stadium) at it's height which was 90,000 in the Joe Gibbs Part 2 days during the mid-2000s.

 

[SkinsFan09]

That's actually almost 10,000 more than what the original RFK held back in the day for football.



Still tiny compared to Jerry World or even FedEx Field (Northwest Stadium) at it's height which was 90,000 in the Joe Gibbs Part 2 days during the mid-2000s.

90,000 is way too much for a stadium in 2025. Seattle plays in a 68,000 seat stadium and is loud as hell. That's what you want. Minnesota's new stadium is 67,000. This is in line with modern stadiums.

 

[tenken00]

90,000 is way too much for a stadium in 2025. Seattle plays in a 68,000 seat stadium and is loud as hell. That's what you want. Minnesota's new stadium is 67,000. This is in line with modern stadiums.

*virtual like*

Well, in the *olden days'* defense of the mid-2000's, that was when we still had the legendary waiting list for Season Ticket Holders lol.

 

[kicksavedave]

90,000 is way too much for a stadium in 2025. Seattle plays in a 68,000 seat stadium and is loud as hell. That's what you want. Minnesota's new stadium is 67,000. This is in line with modern stadiums.

Sure, but RFK had a 40 year waiting list, so it was too small. Fed Ex once held 90,000, but thanks to Snyder's reign of horror, removing seats so they wouldn't look empty, its now second to smallest at 62,000, so technically the new site would be larger. But 65,000 would still be tied for 4th smallest in the NFL. There are 12 stadiums over 70K, 3 stadiums over 80K. None at 90+ anymore.

List of current NFL stadiums - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Also Seattle pumps in crowd noise over their speakers, everyone knows the 12th man is fake

 

[Calicaps]

Probably posted about this before but this is the least taxpayer funded stadium in a while. I believe Jerry World was fully privately funded by Jerry himself but let's face it that's not going to happen for most teams.



The fact that only 25% of this is funded by taxpayers is pretty intriguing, considering the Bills stadium (49%) and Titans stadium (60%)

DC has a tiny tax base.

 

[qcal1427]

This was the logical outcome and seems like a big win for the team, fans, and city. Tailgating is fun but having massive empty parking lots just for 8 days a year is not a good land use and bars/restaurants/taking the metro are all more than adequate replacements. 65k is smaller than I'd have thought. Definitely excited that DC will now theoretically no longer get passed over for big events -- all big concerts, World Cup, Super Bowl, etc. have been no-goes in DC for far too long. Not sure how I feel about the dome ...