The District of Columbia and the Washington Commanders National Football League team struck a deal to redevelop a 180-acre riverfront parcel with a nearly $3.7-billion mixed-use program centered around a new 65,000-seat stadium that proponents say could be ready in time for the 2030 season.

Pending approval by the D.C. Council this summer, the public-private partnership calls for the Commanders to invest at least $2.7 billion for the new roofed stadium, as well as housing, parks and recreation, hotels, restaurants, retail and neighborhood amenities on the campus. Nearly a third of the development will be reserved for parks and open space.

For its part, the District will spend $500 million for what it calls “stadium horizontal and non-vertical costs,” with its convention and sports authority contributing up to $181 million for new parking garages. A District-funded $89-million sportsplex to will host year-round sporting events and tournaments for D.C. youth will also be built.

Once the facility is operational, the District will use a $175-million revenue bond funded by in-stadium activities to develop additional parking.

Neither the Commanders nor the District have publicly announced a design and construction team for the project. According to a presentation provided by the District, approval by the Council this summer will allow planning for parks, housing and recreation to get underway later this year, with stadium site groundbreaking taking place in 2026. The presentation also notes that the District will spend $202 million on campuswide development preparation, including roadways, utilities infrastructure and a public transit capacity study.

Located on the banks of the Anacostia River, the parcel is owned by National Park Service and currently home to District-owned RFK Stadium, the football team’s former home from 1961 to 1996 and currently in the process of being demolished. A December 2024 act of Congress that transferred administrative control of campus to the District government under a new 99-year lease also provided greater latitude in how the site could be redeveloped.

District Mayor Muriel Bowser has made luring the namesake team from its current home in suburban Maryland a priority during her 10 years in office. She said during a press conference announcing the deal that once the transfer was signed into law earlier this year, “we knew right away that partnering with the Commanders would be the fastest and surest route to bringing the RFK campus to life.”

As announced by Bowser and the team, the multi-use program aims to create up to 6,000 housing units, with at least 30% of which to be classified as affordable. It’s uncertain whether that feature will sway District leaders and residents who have voiced opposition to spending on sports facilities in the face of economic uncertainties being driven by proposed massive cuts in the DC-based federal workforce. Last year, Bowser committed the District to spend $500 million to update an existing downtown arena in order to prevent the city’s professional basketball and hockey teams from moving to a proposed new facility in northern Virginia.

According a statement, the District’s contribution to the project will come from a business tax established to retire bonds from construction of the city’s major league baseball park, thereby eliminating the need for cuts to the city’s operating budget. Bowser also noted that that major transportation infrastructure at the site already exists, in the form of access from major roadways and a Metrorail station served by three light rail lines.

Asked about potential opposition, Commanders’ principal owner Josh Harris said that “the project speaks for itself,” and expressed confidence that “we’ll convince the Council that the project is in the best interest of DC.”

Harris, who also owns Philadelphia 76ers professional basketball team, is pursuing a new $1.3-billion downtown arena in that city, currently scheduled to open in 2031.