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DC mayor budgets for indoor sports complex at RFK Campus, still open to Commanders stadium

Muriel Bowser's FY2023 budget proposal could be the nail in the coffin for an already-fading dream of the Washington Commanders returning to play in the District.

WASHINGTON — D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser once called the defunct RFK Stadium “a National Park dedicated to asphalt.” Now, the mayor has solidified plans to change that. 

At a press conference Wednesday announcing her fiscal year 2023 budget proposal, Bowser called for the creation of a new indoor sports complex to be built at the RFK Campus. 

"The Mayor's capital plan will turn RFK Campus into the premier destination for training, learning, clubs, tournaments and competitions," the mayor wrote in her FY2023 'A Fair Shot' budget proposal.

The complex would include several facilities available for public use, including a gymnastics training facility, an indoor track, climbing walls and boxing. D.C.'s Deputy Mayor Chris Geldart would be modeled after Ocean Breeze Park & Athletic Complex on Staten Island. Bowser estimates it would be finished in FY2028.  

"We’re making sure young people are challenged and engaged in school, after school, and during the summer!" the mayor tweeted alongside a picture of layout plans for the campus. 

Bowser proposed $434 million, over six years, for the construction/modernization of parks, recreation facilities (including RFK Campus) and libraries. Geldart said $60 million has been budgeted so far for the RFK project. 

READ: FY2023 'A Fair Shot' budget proposal. 

RELATED: A look at the future of RFK Campus

ANC 6A08 Commissioner Brian Alcorn said the city has a chance to transform this eye sore into a one-of-kind regional attraction.  

“RFK is located on a beautiful site on the river there’s great connectivity with bike trails and other recreational activities,” Alcorn said. "But let’s go the extra distance and embrace the opportunity to make it a community-focused facility.”

The mayor is following the “build it and they will come” model, much like the city did with Audi Field; the District built the neighboring infrastructure, then D.C. United built its stadium.

“We can do football, we can do recreation, we can do housing, we can do retail, we can do more housing and commercial,” Bowser said. "But we don’t need the Commanders to do it.  We can do it with or without the Commanders. What this city won’t do is, we will not wait.”

Since all 190 acres are federally owned, and leased to the District, nothing can be done with the RFK campus until Congress changes the terms of its current lease with the city, or lets D.C. buy the land from the government outright. If the lease is extended, Bowser said the terms of the deal must be changed.

“Currently they only support recreational uses, but you have heard our immense need for housing added jobs, so we need to redevelop RFK for exactly that,” Bowser told reporters at her news conference.

Only 27 of the 190 acres have been developed so far. In 2019, The Fields at RFK – complete with playground and soccer fields – opened to neighbors and visitors on the Northeast side of the stadium closest to Benning Road. Bike and walking paths wrap around the park leading to Ward 7’s hidden treasures: Kingman and Heritage Islands.  

But since the Commanders left D.C. more than 25 years ago, most of RFK and its many parking lots have sat empty, leaving neighbors desperate for development. 

“Something other than a dilapidated potentially dangerous building that’s a bit of an eyesore,” said D.C. resident Samantha Zimmerman.  

After community input, Events D.C. – a semi-private company that operates the city’s entertainment and sports venues - released a rendering of their vision for the space.

The proposed site would include multi-purpose fields, an expansive market hall, a sports and recreation complex complete with a pool and indoor track, pedestrian bridges connecting East of the River communities to the complex and a memorial to its namesake: Robert F. Kennedy.

According to Event D.C.’s estimates when they first started these talks in 2016, the new RFK campus would generate nearly 1,400 construction jobs, 540 permanent jobs, $4.5 million in annual tax revenue, and $112 million over 30 years.

The plan, however, does call for an anchor facility once the old stadium is torn down. The three options under consideration are an NFL stadium, a 20,000-seat arena or an open-air multi-purpose space.

Credit: Events DC

RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: RFK Stadium will come down, city says, but building Washington Commanders home there is unlikely

Events D.C. will continue its conversation with community members and stakeholders about the future of RFK at a virtual meeting scheduled for March 22.

Bowser's announcement felt like the nail in the coffin for an already-fading dream of the Washington Commanders returning to play in the District. However, the mayor said "a lot can happen" in a 100-acre spot, and that she's still open to the possibility of a stadium relocation.

With the Commanders' current lease set to run out after the 2026-2027 football season, the team is expected to make a decision on the location of its new stadium by the end of the year.

D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton has spent years trying to clear the way for owner Dan Snyder to build a new football stadium on the RFK site; it's something that Snyder also has tried to accomplish behind the scenes since 2018, according to published reports. 

After the team changed its name, even Bowser threw her support behind the plan.

“I've said from the very beginning that I think Washingtonians want to have their team play in Washington, just like all of the other professional sports teams,” Bowser said told WUSA9 on Feb. 26. “We have an ideal location at RFK.”

But the mayor and Norton's dreams have faced pushback from the DC Council and neighbors alike. 

“NFL stadiums are proven uniquely to be poor economic drivers,"  Councilmember Charles Allen said. "They host eight or 10 home games a season, let's throw in an occasional bowl game and occasional concert. It's dark and empty 330 days out of the year. That's not a good economic investment for us to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to benefit a billionaire."

“I am not against them coming back into D.C., I do not support them coming back to this location,” added ANC 7D01 Commissioner Tamara Blair.

Commissioner Blair said the team also has a history of being bad neighbors. She remembers when they used to play at RFK before leaving in the mid-’90s.

“Game days were terrible,” she replied, “Our parking was diminished, we had to deal with extra trash. People that consumed too much alcohol. Everything that fans considered a celebration, was a major headache for neighbors.”

In an exclusive interview with WUSA9 Norton called the plan to build a Commanders stadium at RFK a "Hail Mary." 

“Not only does D.C. not have control of the land, we now have Maryland and Virginia wanting the team,” Norton said.

Norton said the recent Congressional hearing into sexual harassment allegations against Snyder and other members of his staff have only further dimmed the chances Congress would help the billionaire by clearing the way for his new football stadium.

And with the prospect of Republicans regaining control of Congress during the midterm elections, Norton said the city’s window to take over the RFK site is about to slam shut.

While the debate over the future of the RFK site continues, Events DC is moving forward with plans to tear down RFK, recently awarding a contract for demolition of the 60-year-old stadium. But Events DC said with a number of regulatory steps still to take, they don’t anticipate starting demolition, until sometime next year at the earliest.

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