Washington Times Weekly: Full speed ahead for a new stadium in Washington

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Saturday, September 27, 2025

I’m George Gerbo and welcome to Washington Times Weekly, where we get a chance to sit down with our reporters and talk about their coverage of the latest news and events.

And joining me today is Washington Times sports reporter Liam Griffin.

[GERBO] Let’s get started with a project that’s been nearly two decades in the making and finally appears to be nearing completion, or at least a point where we’re going to get a new stadium on the RFK campus in the District. The Commanders, who now play at Northwest Stadium out in Maryland and have been there since 1997, they’ve long sought a return over the course of multiple owners and multiple D.C. mayors now to return to Washington, D.C., where the team played for most of its history. And this project now appears to be getting closer and closer to reality.

The D.C. council, for the second time passed a measure, by an 11-to-2 vote, that approves a $3.7 billion multi-use district that will be anchored by a new indoor stadium for the Commanders on the site where the team expects to not only play their games, but perhaps entice Super Bowls, Final Fours, other indoor major destination events to the District.

And in addition to that, a residential multi-use neighborhood with restaurants and recreational opportunities as well. How close is it to becoming reality now, Liam, and what are perhaps any final steps or hurdles that both the Commanders and the city need to be on the lookout for?

[GRIFFIN] This is as close as you can get to a sure thing in the D.C. political sphere, with two votes in favor from the D.C. council. It headed to the mayor’s desk. Mayor Muriel Bowser is a huge supporter of this stadium so she will be signing that into law. And then it is due for a 30-day congressional review period, where it seems like the federal legislators won’t have any issue with this.

You’ll remember when the city got control of that land late last year, federal legislators had in mind a new stadium on that site. So the only step remaining that could possibly throw a wrench into the gears here is President Trump, who said earlier this summer that he would step in if the team didn’t change back to its old name. But he also hasn’t commented on the topic over the past couple of months. So it seems like everything is full speed ahead.

They are now in the zoning process. So the stadium itself is still scheduled to open in 2030. But the housing, the retail, and some of those other developments have already been delayed due to zoning concerns. So those may be pushed into the early 2040s.

[GERBO] Lots still to develop there, and we’ll see how quickly they get shovels in the ground. And as you mentioned, projected just within five years, perhaps, the Commanders could be playing there instead of in Maryland, and we’ll keep an eye on that.

We’ll move to hockey now, where the Washington Capitals are coming off the high of Alexander Ovechkin and his chase, and eventually passing Wayne Gretzky to become the NHL’s all-time goal-scoring leader. He is 40 now, there were some rumors before the season, lingering here into the season, of whether or not this will be his last NHL season. He’s dealing with an injury as this hockey season starts and the Capitals are returning a lot of players, over 20 players from their very successful season, and once again should be a contender at the top of the Metropolitan division. How close is Ovechkin to returning to the ice, and do you see this perhaps being his final season in Washington?