Reply to NFL Commanders building $3bn new stadium in Ward 7 on the old RFK site

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]This thread is confusing.

The deal is very popular with DC residents, including residents in the ward where it will be located. I get there are some vocal opponents to it, but they are people who would oppose any stadium deal at all -- people on CH who don't want the traffic, people who don't care about football and don't think any public money should ever be spent on a football stadium. Which is fine, but [b]it's a minority of the city[/b].

I dislike Bowser but think this is a decent deal. I love football but have never been a Commanders fan due to history with Snyder, but this might pull me around. I also live in an adjacent neighborhood and am excited about the idea of the RFK site finally being redeveloped and think the money this will bring to the neighborhood can only be a good thing. I'm also pretty thrilled about the proposed Sportsplex and think that's an excellent use of the city funds to help develop the site, and am happy they plan to not only keep the Fields at RFK but expand it. That area is easily reachable for me via the streetcar, so it feels like a variety of city investments coming together to actually improve quality of life for residents in NE/SE. Great.

So I'm confused as to why people think this deal will be the end of Home Rule. Presumably the council will eventually approve it because people want it, and no need for Trump or Congress to get involved. Trump likes the deal, and people in DC like the deal, so it seems like it will happen.

Are people proposing that we oppose the deal because Trump likes it? That makes no sense. I just like the deal because it seems good and reflects a massive economic investment in the city at a time when the city needs it, in a part of the city that could especially benefit from it. I don't care what Trump thinks of it, Trump sucks.[/quote]

Please stop making stuff up and passing it off as fact. [b]The most recent poll, conducted by the Washington Post last year, found that public opinion is split - 47% of DC residents support using city funds for a stadium and 46% are against it. [/b]But it's stupid anyway to reduce complex stadium financing schemes down to basic questions. What would be a meaningful exercise is to have a representative sample of DC residents study the term sheet and relevant studies and then give their opinion. Which is kinda why we have elected representatives to decide these issues for us . . .

There are good things that are included in the proposal, no doubt. The Sportsplex and the expansions of The Fields are good, as is the general plan to develop the area.

What is not good is the details, what DC will be paying for, and what DC will get back in terms of revenue (almost nothing). I encourage you (and others who are supportive of the deal based on what they heard at the press conference) to read this: https://www.fieldofschemes.com/2025/04/30/22661/commanders-stadium-plan-is-somehow-even-worse-for-dc-taxpayers-than-we-thought/ and this: https://ggwash.org/view/99327/a-commanders-stadium-at-rfk-will-actually-cost-taxpayers-6-billion

In sum, the deal has DC stuck with funding $500 million for what is essentially stadium construction and another $350 million for parking garages, but yet will not be able to recoup any revenue on property taxes (since the stadium, which DC will own, will be leased to the Commanders for $1) or taxes on sales at the stadium (which go to a fund for maintaining the stadium) or on parking (which are expressly exempt from sales taxes).

Meanwhile, SoFi stadium in LA was built with no public money.

I've been to a few events at FedEx and I hate it with a passion. I would love to have the option to see large events closer to my home and in a much better stadium. But I'm also a DC taxpayer and intend to live in the city for the foreseeable future.

Even if the city were flush with cash, I'd probably have issues with using our tax dollars to make billionaires richer, but it's straight up madness for the Bowser administration to be contemplating a deal as bad as this in the current economic environment. DC is bleeding tax revenue, losing jobs (and probably population), has a maxed-out capital budget, just took a hit to its bond rating, and will face much higher financing costs if bond yields continue to rise.

We all want nice things, but giving away money we don't have and won't get back just as we are about to lose our lunch is idiocy.[/quote]

A newly released WaPo poll finds 55 percent of DC residents now favor the plan and only 39 percent oppose. Sorry this goes against your little narrative there:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2025/05/08/rfk-stadium-commanders-financing-poll/?utm_source=alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=wp_news_alert_revere&location=alert

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