The U.S. Senate has handed a invoice granting management of the outdated RFK Stadium website to the District of Columbia, a last-minute passage that helps clear the way in which for the Washington Commanders to probably transfer again to the town.
The passage early Saturday comes after a provision to switch management of the land from the federal authorities to D.C. was faraway from Congress’ slimmed-down, short-term spending invoice as lawmakers raced to move it earlier than a authorities shutdown.
Washington Commanders proprietor Josh Harris praised the passage, saying in a press release: “We’re extraordinarily grateful that our elected officers have come collectively on a bipartisan foundation to offer Washington D.C. the chance to resolve on the way forward for the RFK stadium website. This invoice will create an excellent enjoying discipline so that each one potential future areas for the house of the Washington Commanders could be pretty thought-about and provides our franchise the chance to supply the perfect expertise for all of our followers.”
The Commanders are contemplating areas within the District, Maryland and Virginia to construct a stadium within the coming years. Their lease at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Maryland, runs via 2027, and Harris known as 2030 a “cheap goal” for a brand new one.
The last-minute passage helps clear the way in which for the Washington Commanders to probably transfer again to the town. News4’s Derrick Ward studies.
The crew performed at RFK Stadium two miles east of the Capitol from 1961 to 1996 earlier than transferring to Maryland. Harris and several other co-owners, together with Mitch Rales and Mark Ein, grew up as Washington soccer followers throughout that period, which included the glory days of three Tremendous Bowl championships between 1982 and 1991.
The invoice will switch administrative jurisdiction of the RFK website from the Secretary of the Inside to the D.C. authorities. Whereas the federal authorities will nonetheless personal the land, D.C. will be capable of redevelop the land for a stadium, business and residential improvement and different public functions, in line with the workplace of U.S. Rep. James Comer, R-Kentucky, who launched the invoice.
“The Senate’s passage of the D.C. RFK Stadium Campus Revitalization Act is a historic second for our nation’s capital,” Comer stated in a press release Saturday. “If Congress didn’t act immediately, this decaying land in Washington would proceed to value taxpayers a fortune to keep up. Revitalizing this RFK Memorial Stadium website has been a prime financial precedence for the town, and I’m proud to have partnered with D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser to get this invoice throughout the end line and to the President’s desk.”
The U.S. Home handed the invoice in February. With the invoice’s passage within the Senate as effectively, it now heads to President Joe Biden to be signed into legislation.
“This can be a win for DC, for our area, and for America,” Bowser wrote in a social media put up Saturday morning. “All people loves comeback story — and that is DC’s story.”
News4 is awaiting remark from D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton.
