NFL Commissioner Supports Washington Commanders Return to RFK Stadium Site

NEW ORLEANS -- NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell on Monday delivered his strongest public comment yet on the league's desire to have the Washington Commanders come back to D.C.

At a wide-ranging media availability ahead of Super Bowl LIX, Goodell said a new venue at the RFK Stadium site would be a huge economic driver, adding that the team returning to the District to a new home with the District's monuments and U.S. Capitol in its sight lines would be great for our nation.

"I remember that as a kid growing up, the power of that vision and what it means to that community," Goodell said at the Superdome. "It's a really powerful thing. So, if it turns out that that is the best alternative, it could be a great thing."

Goodell, the son of a U.S. senator, has his own memories of seeing Washington's football team play in the District, which it called home for 59 years -- first at Griffith Stadium, then at RFK -- before moving to what is now Northwest Stadium in Landover, Md.

"It's important for the team to play in an area that is beneficial for the fans," Goodell said. "It's going to be beneficial for those communities and it's going to be beneficial to the team. I'm also a kid who grew up in Washington, D.C. going to RFK Stadium and I remember that experience. When I see that stadium site today -- I went by it when I was down in Washington in December -- and, frankly, it was really disappointing. It made me sad to see that area and how the stadium looks today and how the community looks."

That the Commanders have options -- D.C. and Maryland -- for their next stadium is a reflection of the franchise's turnaround under owner Josh Harris and the result of legislation that passed the U.S. Senate in December and granted the District control of the 170-plus acres along the Anacostia River.

The Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium Campus Revitalization Act passed Congress in December on a Hail Mary action that transferred control of the site from the federal government to D.C., which has long sought to revitalize the property, potentially with a new NFL stadium. Now that the city controls the land, the 13-member D.C. Council has the final say on what will go there.

Goodell and the NFL were integral in pushing the legislation through with bipartisan support; he traveled to D.C. in December to meet with lawmakers and has had multiple conversations with Mayor Muriel E. Bowser and members of Congress, among others, to give the District a chance to vie for a stadium.

Like Goodell, Harris and Commanders limited partners Mitch Rales and Mark Ein grew up in D.C. as fans of Washington's NFL franchise and have often cited their personal memories of RFK Stadium in discussing their vision for the team's next home.

But the team is having regular conversations with both D.C. and Maryland officials. The Commanders own Northwest Stadium and its surrounding property, where it is contractually obligated to play its home games until September 2027, after which it can stay or leave.

At his end-of-season news conference in Ashburn, Virginia, Harris doubled down on his November comments that D.C. would be the most politically viable site for the next stadium because of its regional centrality and rich history.

"It's the location that, when we do surveys, is the most acceptable," he said. "That doesn't mean that there's not a lot of support in Maryland, a lot of support in Virginia. There is, but obviously D.C. is kind of aligned with the history and happens to be the easiest place to get to for the most number of fans."

Harris cited team-commissioned surveys that showed fans prefer D.C. because of its location, but noted "it's not the only factor." Harris said other considerations include zoning and real estate.

Harris parried several logistics questions -- he declined to say whether he preferred to have the team or government own the stadium, for instance -- and he defended his personal involvement in the effort to get the RFK bill passed in December.

"I was working pretty hard to get D.C. at the table because I thought it was the right thing to do," he said. "And now we got the hard work of figuring out the multitude of specifics that you need to figure out when you're doing something like this -- and D.C. really has to decide what it wants to do."

Harris denied a link between financing the next Commanders stadium and the stunning reversal last month in Philadelphia, where his basketball team, the Philadelphia 76ers, decided to stay at a sports complex in South Philadelphia rather than build a new arena downtown. The organization had waged a tense battle for two years and ultimately secured the passage of key legislation in December.

"They're not intertwined at all," he said. "They're totally separate situations, and obviously we have the ability to finance both the arena and the stadium. ... We ended up in a great place in Philly, and I'm hoping we end up in a great place [here]. I'm very, very confident we'll end up in a great place here."

Asked to justify why taxpayers should help pay for a new stadium, Harris echoed Goodell's sentiments, saying a new venue would create massive economic opportunity for that area, including jobs and construction.

Multiple studies have shown that new sports venues generally don't fulfill their boosters' promises of major economic windfalls. One analysis studied 42 years of pro sports teams and facilities and found major sports franchises have "no significant impact" on wages.

Harris emphasized he couldn't get into specifics because the jurisdictions had to dictate when and how to discuss the details of a proposal. But he did note that the success of the team's 2024 season -- a 12-5 record and a trip to the NFC championship game -- has led to a "reawakening" of the fan base that could help the team in its search for a new stadium.

"There's no question that there's some momentum, and we would hope to capitalize on it," he said. "Obviously, we're in dialogue with jurisdictions -- with Washington, with Maryland -- and what they want to do is a big part of it also. And every indication is that everyone is supportive and so we're just going to try to move it forward as fast as possible."