The battle lines, such as they are, on the proposed Washington Commanders stadium at the old RFK Stadium site in D.C. are pretty clear: Mayor Muriel Bowser has proposed a deal that would involve more than $7 billion in city cash, tax breaks, and land discounts, and wants it passed by July 15; council leaders, most prominently chair Phil Mendelson, say they want to wait until September to vote in order to “make the deal even better (sic) for taxpayers” in unspecified ways. Mendelson, undeterred by the mayor’s (and Commanders owner Josh Harris’s) preferred deadline, has even set public hearings for July 29 and 30, which temporal experts say is actually after July 15.
Bowser was asked by sports radio talk show host Kevin Sheehan on Monday how concerned she was about all this on a scale of 0 to 5, and stopped just short of Defcon 1:
Bowser: “That’s a good question. Listen, I’m concerned right now that everybody buckle down and get to work. I’m not concerned about our deal. Our deal is solid. It pays off for D.C. And at the end of the day, I think everybody wants the same thing. So I would put my level of concern, because, you know, when you’re a big city mayor, you’re concerned about everything, I’d put it at a 4.”
Sheehan: “Well, that’s one away from very concerned!”
Bowser: (laughs)
This looks like usual political standoff stuff, where Bowser is trying to bigfoot the council into rushing a Commanders stadium bill in the next two weeks despite all the outstanding questions about it, and Mendelson is saying all in due time. Bowser’s only real leverage is to threaten that Harris could walk away from the deal if it’s not approved promptly — which he could, sure, but he would be insane to do so, given that he has a shot at a record-shattering $7 billion and up in subsidies from D.C., whereas his next best offer from anywhere else is nothing at all, certainly not by July 15.
Though Fox 5 Washington suggests one other (don’t use a football metaphor, don’t use a football metaphor) end run (dammit) that Harris could theoretically attempt:
Speaking with Mendelson yesterday, he did confirm that he has heard talk that the Commanders have a Plan B which may involve going to President Trump and members of Congress to make it happen on time.
It’s unclear whether Mendelson said that before or after he and some other councilmembers had dinner with Commanders execs to discuss the stadium plans. Either way, it would clearly be unprecedented for the federal government to step in and force a city to fund an NFL stadium, but everything is already so far beyond unprecedented — both in terms of what Harris is asking for and what the Trump administration is up to — that nothing would be surprising anymore.
Prediction. Trump will insert himself into this, especially if it gets close to approval. But he will demand, or announce erroneously, that the Commanders are reverting to their former name.
We are so far into the Tyson Zone now, that your take is not far-fetched at all.
In other news, I am stunned at this story. I mean…Kevin Sheehan is still on the air? Guy’s talentless.
Remind me:
The Tyson Zone means that there is no outcome, conceivable or inconceivable, that would be surprising.
Is that correct?
Don’t forget the hook… he will also demand that the New Jersey Generals be reanimated and admitted (free, because everyone knows he doesn’t have the money) as the NFL’s 32nd team.
sorry, 33rd… typo
Oh, that’s funny!
I would be a dedicated fan if they had simply, permanently stuck with Washington Football Team.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, the Washington Redskins. Amen.
It always bugged me that they didn’t use Washington Football *Club*
So…. “Guy who paid $7Bn for a moribund NFL franchise now needs $7Bn from taxpayers for a new stadium”?
Really, Muriel? Really?
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/jul/02/athletics-las-vegas-stadium-john-fisher-mlb-debacle
Give a holler when the Netflix series gets into production, I’ve kept some receipts.
Yeah, I can absolutely see Trump inserting himself into this. Remember, 40+ years ago he demanded the NFL let him buy into the league, and NFL ownership quickly told him to Pound Sand…or perhaps Eat Rocks…I suppose the mineral content was the same either way.
So, Trump bought into the United States Football League. Made all kinds of promises, enticing other franchise owners to borrow silly (for 1984) amounts of money. They mostly defaulted, he bought what was the rest of the league.
It crashed after another season. Trump dodged most of its debts (sound familiar?) and continued with his career of buying properties with other peoples’ money, draining their value, and walking away from the debt.
Shit like this has led me to think that our political system is not just dumb or corrupt, it is exhausted.
DC has all kinds of reap problems. It has had them forever. There is not really much DC government – or any municipal government – can do to attack the root causes of those problems when we have an increasingly illegitimate Federal government.
So they’ve given up trying to address the real thorny issues and have resigned to bread and circus. And when the bread part is too difficult, they just do the circus.
Circus on empty stomachs, maybe the people will get grumpy! On the other hand, look at the guy on the wire!