Report: NFL Owner Working with Congress To Slip Stadium Provision into Spending Bill
One of the responsibilities of the federal government in Washington, D.C., is oversight of the administration for the nation’s capital city.
With Congress consumed by partisan political bickering, the upcoming change of party leadership in the House of Representatives from Republican to Democrat threatens to upend the plans for a lot of the city’s goings-on.
One of the side effects of this is a newfound sense of urgency for Redskins owner Daniel Snyder as he tries to get approval to build a new stadium along the Anacostia River on federal land, where Robert F. Kennedy Stadium currently stands.
“The team has been working in concert with local and federal officials to insert a stadium provision into the massive spending bill that the Republican-controlled Congress is rushing to complete this month, according to four people familiar with the effort but not authorized to discuss it publicly,” The Washington Post reported last week.
Of course, looming over all this is President Donald Trump’s threats to let a partial shutdown happen if the spending package does not include funding for his proposed wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.
Making matters more complicated is the fact that the stadium deal’s highest-profile backer in the executive branch, Secretary of the Interior Robert Zinke, is himself on the way out. It’s unclear how his successor will feel about the stadium issue.
At the core of the issue, and why Snyder can’t simply build another stadium where one already exists, is that RFK Stadium exists on land administered by the National Park Service, which is part of the Interior Department.
The terms of the stadium lease states that the land must be used only for “stadium purposes” or “recreational facilities, open space, or public recreation opportunities.”
Not included? Commercial development, which means no fan zone-style facilities, bars, restaurants, pro shops or any of the other thriving commercial attractions that tend to grow around stadium complexes.
That’s not to say that the NFL doesn’t have stadiums that aren’t basically islands in otherwise sleepy neighborhoods; Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, and MetLife Stadium in the swamps of New Jersey both fall into the economic wasteland category.
Indeed, part of the reason the Redskins left RFK Stadium was the lack of opportunity for additional business ventures in the area around the stadium itself.
D.C.’s non-voting delegate to Congress, Eleanor Holmes Norton, a Democrat, made a statement describing her engagement in the debate.
“I am continuing to work on multiple legislative options for the redevelopment of the RFK site,” she said.
But “getting the land deal done before this Congress adjourns is critical to Snyder, who has taken pains to cultivate Republicans in power and donated $1 million to President Trump’s inauguration fund,” The Post reported.
Indeed, when this subject came up during the Obama administration, then-Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell specifically singled out the team’s “relic of the past” nickname when describing her hesitance to work with the team on the stadium issue.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, however, may well be an ally of Snyder.
In March 2017, she wrote to Trump and Zinke, asking for “either a full transfer of jurisdiction or an extension of the term of the lease for an additional 100 years with a removal of restriction limiting the use of the property.”
“We believe the site can be transformed to create and preserve green space, add much needed housing and retail, include a sports and/or entertainment purpose and above all generate jobs for our residents and the region,” Bowser said.
On the other hand, plenty of opposition exists on the D.C. Council, particularly when it comes to a site that could be used for green space or to alleviate Washington’s housing crisis.
“All we’re going to get is what we’ve got already, which is a place that is unused on the edge of a neighborhood where we have the opportunity to really extend our city and extend our neighborhood down to the river,” said council member Charles Allen, a Democrat from Ward 6. “Every dollar and every square foot that we put into a stadium and parking lot is a one that we’re not putting into affordable housing or local businesses or parks and green spaces.”
Snyder, meanwhile, continues to have stadium envy.
FedEx Field, which opened as Jack Kent Cooke Stadium in 1997, is still under lease to the team until 2027, but Snyder believes it to be a liability compared to pleasure palaces like AT&T Stadium, where the Cowboys play their homes games.
Meanwhile, out in Los Angeles, Rams owner Stan Kroenke has put together a $4 billion proposal for a massive new stadium complex.
Time will tell whether Snyder gets what he wants, but unlike Kroenke, Snyder is not well-liked by his fans, so that may end up being even more of a hindrance than which party controls the government.
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