NFL owners approve Commanders’ stadium lease in D.C.

NFL owners voted on Tuesday at the league’s spring meetings in Orlando to approve the terms of the Washington Commanders’ new stadium deal with the District of Columbia, according to a league source. The vote was an expected but important step in the team’s lengthy and complicated quest to return to the city.

The $3.8 billion project will transform 180 acres on the footprint of RFK stadium, the team’s former home in D.C., with an enclosed stadium that anchors a mixed-use development with housing, retail and entertainment space.

The initial terms of the Commanders’ private-public partnership with D.C. were announced at an April 2025 press conference featuring owner Josh Harris, Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. The agreement, with alterations, was approved by the D.C. Council in September.

The Commanders are investing at least $2.7 billion to fund the construction of the stadium and any overruns, plus the opening day parking facility. Part of that sum will ultimately come from fans, through personal seat licenses. The team will also turn to the NFL’s G-5 loan program, which allows it to borrow as much as $300 million and can be repaid with funds that would otherwise be subject to league revenue sharing. Details of that loan, according to another league source, have yet to be finalized and were not part of Tuesday’s vote.

The Commanders will pay D.C. a minimal rent of $1 annually for the stadium, parking facilities and commercial development and will not have any property taxes.

The District is contributing $1.1 billion for infrastructure, parking facilities and utilities. In return, it will develop a prime piece of land along the Anacostia River, receive sales tax revenue from the stadium and celebrate a win in getting the Commanders back in D.C., a long-time mission of Bowser.

The Commanders’ new stadium, expected to open in 2030, will be a modern tribute to the old RFK Stadium, with a wavy roofline, colonnade exterior and transparent top to give the feel of being outdoors.

“I had decided that we had to go for RFK,” Harris told The Athletic.

“It was tougher, but I just felt like that was the right place for it to be. It’s in the middle of the DMV; it’s historic. Honestly, it’s the best site. … Throughout this whole process, it’s been a North Star for me.”