RFK Stadium neighbors oppose mayor’s plan to bring Commanders back

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser hopes to lure the Washington Commanders back to the District with a rebuilt RFK Stadium — but some neighborhood residents want to use the site for community initiatives instead.

Earlier this month, federal lawmakers moved forward with legislation that would allow the National Park Service to lease the RFK campus to Washington officials. The bill marked a breakthrough in long-stalled talks of building a new RFK Stadium on the site of the original, which is slated for demolition.

Ms. Bowser applauded the congressional action, noting that it’s one more step on the path to bringing NFL games back to the District.

But many RFK-area neighbors are unhappy with the mayor’s plans. Some residents from Kingman Park, the neighborhood adjacent to RFK, oppose any stadium at the site. They have concerns about traffic and would rather see the area used for public recreation and community development. 

“My biggest concern centers around the use of land. The community would really like to see more of a mixed-use development that has amenities for the whole community,” said Ebony Payne, advisory neighborhood commissioner and board member with the Friends of Kingman Park. “When you do the math, you realize there is not as much space available as one would believe. Every bit of space that we’re using for stadium parking lots, it’s space that’s not being used for sports or kids.”

Kingman Park residents formed the group RFK Future in 2023 to have some say in revitalization efforts. An informal survey from RFK Future found that 70% of respondents did not want a stadium at the site. Respondents prioritized a potential park and nature complex alongside youth sports facilities. A new stadium for the Commanders ranked last in voting. 

“This is a tremendous opportunity,” one survey respondent wrote. “Don’t blow it on a billionaire’s playground.”

Residents raised these concerns in a meeting with Ms. Bowser in October. The mayor, who has long said that the Commanders should play in the District, believes the city can balance a new stadium with neighborhood initiatives.

“If you ask me what my vision is, I’ve said long and frequently it is not to have a stadium surrounded by asphalt but to have a mix of uses that serves the District of Columbia,” Ms. Bowser said in the meeting. “What I am trying to explain, these are not either-or, ‘either there would be a stadium or there would be youth sports.’ In 174 acres, we can create multiple uses.” 

Ms. Payne, who is running for city council in Ward 7, is skeptical that the 174-acre RFK campus is large enough to support a stadium, parking lots for tailgating, community fields and items on the neighborhood’s wish list.

“People want to see grocery stores. They want to see housing. They want to see healthcare facilities. They want to see mixed-use development that is being built with the community in mind,” she said. “Let’s use the mayor’s 174 acres. FedEx Field has 129 acres of surface parking lots. That leaves 45 acres available. The Fields at RFK are on 27 acres of converted parking lots. That would leave 18 acres. It doesn’t leave a lot of space for the community.”  

The RFK campus currently hosts a skatepark and an outdoor sports complex on converted parking lots. Ms. Bowser has not committed to preserving those amenities in stadium plans. In the October meeting, she said there would be some green space alongside a rebuilt arena, but noted that it may not be the same fields. 

“I think [the Fields at RFK] were meant to be temporary but we’re going to make sure we have field space,” the mayor said. She also noted that city officials would be “thinking about” the skatepark as they develop a stadium.

Payne and other community members are worried that a revitalized RFK campus could cost them the skatepark, athletic fields and a farmers market, which they say are vital for the neighborhood.

“That has become a big part of my platform, making sure that those kids have that skatepark in the future,” she said. “And it would be a real loss to the community if anything happened to that farmers market.”

The meeting with Ms. Bowser was poorly received by many Kingman Park residents, according to Payne. 

“Most people felt as if she was there to tell the community what we were going to get instead of asking the community what we would like to see happen,” Ms. Payne said. “I would say that we left with more questions than answers.”

Ms. Bowser has not offered to host another meeting with the community in recent months. The Washington Times reached out to the mayor’s office for comment on this story.

Since the October meeting, the Washington Wizards and Capitals announced plans to move to Virginia. If they follow through, the Washington Nationals, Washington Mystics, D.C. United and Washington Spirit will be the remaining major professional teams still playing home games in the District. 

With a potential move on the horizon, Ms. Payne is worried that Ms. Bowser will double down on attempts to bring the Commanders back to RFK Stadium. 

“I think the mayor sees RFK as her legacy, so I think she would be putting in as much effort to having the team return regardless,” she said. “But I do think the Caps and Wizards potentially leaving will increase her desire to see a win for her legacy.”

Legislation to lease the site to the District still has to pass through Congress before city officials can make firm plans for a new stadium. For now, the future is murky for the RFK campus and the residents of Kingman Park.

“It will be very interesting to see what the next couple months and years bring. There’s no guarantees either way,” Ms. Payne said. “We’re just monitoring the legislation closely and doing everything that we can as a community to stay engaged and united and letting lawmakers know that we’re very much paying attention.”