The bill that would authorize D.C. to do a deal for a new facility at the site of RFK Stadium is dead. For now.
The provision has disappeared from wide-ranging legislation that would avoid a government shutdown, via Eric Flack of WUSA9.com. More recently, the renegotiated deal was rejected by the House of Representatives.
The previous bipartisan effort was derailed by President-elect Trump and Elon Musk, who specifically targeted the RFK Stadium provision on Wednesday.
Although the bill devoted no taxpayer money to the construction of the stadium, does anyone really think Commanders owner Josh Harris will pay for all of it himself? The vast majority of NFL owners pursue private-public financing for stadium construction and renovation.
So even if the current bill didn’t devote federal funds to the project, it’s just a matter of time before public money would be requested.
For now, none of that matters. There’s no bill to allow D.C. to use the situation for a new stadium.
The mood nationwide has changed in recent years against giving handouts to assist in the construction of sports stadiums. The ongoing explosion in the value of NFL franchises makes the argument that anyone but the teams and their owners should pay for new or upgraded stadiums a lot harder.
Whenever such measures are put on a ballot, they fail. The NFL nevertheless has managed to get elected officials to keep finding ways to justify kicking taxpayer money into the pot. It’s possible that those days are ending.
