Exterior photo of RFK Stadium. Former home of the Washington Nationals. 

RFK Stadium

Image Credit: Eddie Welker (CC BY 2.0)

The Washington Redskins organization has started discussing where to build their new home stadium. The Redskins play in one of the NFL’s largest markets and have played at the less than stellar Fedex Field since 1997. The team’s lease with the stadium is set to expire in 2027 and the team is making all efforts to allow for a timely construction of the stadium. Virginia politicians are attempting to lure the team to the Virginia side of the Washington, DC metro area although there are whispers that the site of RFK Stadium, the team’s former home, is the most desirable location.

The team holds it’s practices in Virginia. Another possible construction site is a plot of land adjacent to the Dulles Airport in Loudoun County, Virginia. The airport site will have a Metro transit stop constructed by 2020. The National Harbor area is another possibility and is now home to a brand new MGM Grand Casino. The Washington Redskins organization seeks to build a mixed-use development outside of the new stadium that will feature retail, bars, restaurants, hotels, etc. A casino would be the perfect attraction to center a mixed-use neighborhood around. The Cincinnati Bengals and New England Patriots currently offer outstanding mixed-use developments outside of their home stadiums.

Local politicians are making efforts to ensure no public funds will be issued for a new stadium as long as the team carries the “Redskins” nickname. As you could imagine, those local politicians are Democrats that are “offended by the team’s racist name”. In fact, those politicians are so committed to outrage culture and identity politics that they would rather risk losing the team to another city that will gladly build a stadium with taxpayer dollars.

According to Bruce Allen, President of the Washington Redskins, the stadium plans are ahead of schedule and construction could begin much sooner than fans think. The largest obstacle will be financing with new stadium in a day and age when NFL stadiums are costing over a billion dollars to construct. Don’t count on the Washington Redskins to spend any more than $500 million of their own money on a new stadium. Their contributions towards the stadium's construction costs will be minimal.

 

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