President Donald Trump is threatening to stop the Washington Commanders from moving into a new stadium in Washington, D.C., if they don’t change their name back to the Redskins. The president said in a Truth Social post Sunday night, July 20, that if they don’t change their name, “I won’t make a deal for them to build a stadium in Washington.”
It’s unclear how much power the president has to stop the move. A deal has already been reached that is now being considered by the District of Columbia City Council, and Congress has already passed a law transferring control of the stadium’s campus to the local Washington government.
There are three possible ways the president could halt or slow progress on bringing the Commanders back to the District of Columbia:
1) Instruct the secretary of the interior to revoke Washington’s control of the campus.
2) Pressure or make changes to the National Capital Planning Commission.
3) Pressure or make changes to the Commission on Fine Arts.
More on all that below.
Mayor Muriel Bowser’s response
Mayor Muriel Bowser didn’t answer whether the president’s threat to squash the deal is realistic. Instead, she said the City Council needs to approve the deal.
“What I’m concerned about is we haven’t done our part,” Bowser told reporters Monday, July 21. “So we need to complete our part so that the team can get to work, so that local businesses can get hired, so that we can start earning the tax revenue that will come when we deliver the Commanders’ stadium.”
Bowser added that she is not aware of the president taking any action to intervene in the deal.
The District of Columbia City Council missed a July 15 deadline for approval that was written into the deal with the team. There is a public hearing scheduled for July 29.
Details of the Commanders’ deal
The deal calls for the Commanders to invest $2.7 billion in building a roofed stadium, and for Washington to invest approximately $1.1 billion in parking, public transportation, utilities and other infrastructure.
If all goes to plan, a new 65,000-seat stadium would open in 2030. The area would also gain 5,000 to 6,000 new housing units, 30% of which would be affordable housing.
How President Trump could squash the deal
There are ways Trump could potentially try to pull the plug on the Commanders moving back to Washington.
The land was given to the District of Columbia through the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium Campus Revitalization Act. It transferred administrative jurisdiction of the 174-acre campus to the local Washington government for 99 years.
However, there are provisions that allow the secretary of the interior to revoke the transfer if certain conditions aren’t met or if areas of the land aren’t used for specific purposes.
Washington does have a few things going in its favor, however. The bill explicitly prohibits the use of federal funds to build the stadium or any supporting infrastructure, such as offices or workout facilities.
All costs for rehabilitating the property are to be paid by the District of Columbia. So Trump won’t be able to withhold federal funds for the stadium, because there aren’t any.
The president could also pressure or appoint new members to the National Capital Planning Commission, which approves the district’s construction projects, or the Commission on Fine Arts, which reviews designs for projects. The president has already appointed new members to both commissions.
He has also shown a willingness to make changes to boards. In February, he fired the Kennedy Center’s Board of Trustees and named himself as chair.
