For Commanders, Monumental’s deal to stay in D.C. could have ripple effects

A spokesman for Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) declined to comment, citing focus on the Key Bridge collapse.

Joe Maloney, the Commanders’ former vice president of public affairs who was deeply involved in the team’s stadium effort before leaving in January for the American Gaming Association, also saw the deal as a win for Maryland.

“The blast radius and the cascading effect of what took place in Virginia, and the resulting deal between Monumental Sports & Entertainment and the city of Washington, D.C., places Maryland as the prohibitive favorite to land the Commanders’ stadium deal,” he said.

Though Maryland’s confidence is growing, D.C. officials and experts on stadium deals argued Monumental’s agreement to remain in the District hasn’t diminished the city’s ability to compete. Plus, the Commanders aren’t in a rush to pick a site. Last week, managing partner Josh Harris said he wanted to let the bill that could make the RFK Stadium site a realistic option continue to move through Congress. In February, the House passed the bill, but the Senate has not taken any action.

“Nothing has changed for us,” a spokesperson for the Commanders said. “We continue to have discussions and are developing site plans across all three jurisdictions. We want to make sure we can build a state-of-the-art stadium for our fans and our players and be an economic driver for the community.”

Harris did note the venue project is getting more serious. He said the team is developing site plans for all three jurisdictions, and it has had “deep discussions” with Maryland. Harris was vague about those discussions. He owns roughly 200 acres in Landover, including the current stadium, and Moore has aggressively pursued keeping the Commanders since the NFL approved the sale of the team in July.

Two stadium-deal experts acknowledged D.C.’s commitment of $515 million to Monumental is money the city can’t give the Commanders, but they stopped short of saying it hurt the city’s ability to attract a new team. Irwin Kishner, a partner at New York-based firm Herrick Feinstein LLP who has been the lead counsel in more than a dozen major stadium transactions, noted D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) has long championed bringing the Commanders back to the city.

“There’s only a limited amount of dollars, but if there’s motivation to do it, they can do it,” Kishner said.

Both experts acknowledged Maryland is in a strong position because Moore is motivated and willing to use public funds on the construction of a new stadium. Last year, the state approved $1.2 billion in renovations to the Orioles’ and Ravens’ stadiums.

“Maryland is almost like the safe school for kids who are applying to college,” said Marc Ganis, president and co-founder of Sportscorp Ltd. and a consultant to multiple leagues and teams. “If the other two jurisdictions don’t step up, Maryland could very well be the beneficiary.”

Bowser said the deal she struck with Monumental founder Ted Leonsis “very positively” affects potential Commanders negotiations.

“Just like Ted saw, others see we mean business,” she said, adding, “We’ve also seen a level of community support around D.C. having its sports team, which I don’t know was evident a few months ago, so I think that’s positive.”

Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) said he doesn’t see the Monumental deal and a potential Commanders competition as being connected because, until the RFK bill passes, the Commanders’ situation remains abstract. But, he added, he’s still opposed to bringing the team back to the city.

“I believe strongly that the city should not be putting money up for yet another stadium,” he said.

Despite the city’s tough budget this year, Mendelson has emphasized that Monumental’s money will come from the capital budget, not the operating budget, which is strapped. In the future, even if D.C. were limited in what it can offer via a direct cash subsidy, the city could create a financial package for the team, such as offering development rights, taxes generated at the stadium or infrastructure work at the site, as it did for Audi Field.

The mayor hinted at such possibilities in a recent interview.

“To the extent that people are interested in kind of the financing tools [for Monumental and the Commanders], they’re two totally different animals,” she said. “In the Monumental case, we’re talking about investing in an existing building on land that we own, and we would be talking about, at RFK, a completely mixed-used development, 170 acres that lends itself to many financing tools.”

In the Commanders’ stadium sweepstakes, Ganis and Kishner refused to rule out Virginia. But if the RFK bill passes this year, the competition could come down to D.C. and Maryland. Virginia still does not have a football stadium authority, meaning it cannot offer public funds, and it cannot create one until next year. And even then, it’s hard to imagine legislators rallying for another stadium fight after the Monumental effort fell apart.

Maloney, who joined the Commanders in 2020, saw Virginia’s failure to land Monumental as a crippling blow to its hopes for the football team.

“The whole point of the previous three years was to deliver, maintain and preserve optionality” for a potential Commanders stadium in all three jurisdictions, he said. “Given what took place in Virginia, and the resulting deal between [Monumenal] and the District of Columbia, that optionality is diminished. … We have now gone from three to two [if the RFK bill passes].”

A spokesman for Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) did not respond to a request for comment.

Michael Brice-Saddler contributed reporting.