The 2024 NFL trade deadline passed a month ago, but the Washington Commanders could still be involved in a major trade.
Maryland U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen have proposed a deal that would allow the District of Columbia to build a stadium that would lure the Washington Chiefs away from their current home at Northwest Stadium (formerly FedEx Field), according to the Washington Post. .
Suggested replacement:
DC gets: Maryland senators not opposed to bill that would allow county to redevelop RFK Stadium site, potentially for new home for commanders
Maryland gets: one of two Air National Guard squadrons in DC (and the only one with fighter jets), the commanders’ public announcement of their preferred location for their next stadium, and assurances about what will be built on the Northwest Stadium site
It’s a deal you don’t see every day, but it’s also something that can happen when pro football, military spending and the tangled mess of DC politics intersect.
We left DC last time trying to lure the commanders out of Maryland. The U.S. House has passed a bill with bipartisan support that senators in Maryland are currently threatening to oppose. The DC RFK Memorial Stadium Campus Revitalization Act simply gives DC control of the RFK Stadium site to do with it as it pleases. It could be mixed use, a multi-billion dollar NFL stadium, or something else.
For obvious reasons, the bill met opposition from Maryland lawmakers in both the House and Senate. The Chiefs and their tax dollars are currently in Maryland, which also has to battle Virginia in the battle to keep the team. The proposed trade would further open the door for DC to land the Chiefs, but at the very least it would give Maryland something similar to the situation many NFL teams are experiencing with pending free agents.
Maryland is reportedly the only state without a National Guard flying mission next year because of plans by the U.S. Air Force to convert the state’s existing squadron into one with ground-based cyber responsibilities.
Eleanor Holmes, a non-voting D.C. congressional delegate, released a statement to the Post that signals concern about the proposed exchange:
“The move would leave the DCNG without aviation units, forcing it to rely on the goodwill of other National Guards for routine aviation matters that arise in DC, such as intercepting aircraft, patrolling the skies, and rescuing or evacuating people in emergency situations,” Norton he said in a statement on Tuesday. “While DC can request assistance from other National Guardsmen, there is no guarantee that air assets will be provided in a timely manner – or at all.”
“DC rightfully deserves to benefit from the land on which the decaying RFK Stadium is located, and the exchange for transferring administrative jurisdiction over the campus to DC should not be at the expense of DCNG’s aviation resources,” Norton said in a statement.
The situation also reflects DC’s inability to govern itself, despite being home to more people than Vermont and Wyoming. The district has no votes in Congress and two houses have jurisdiction over its affairs, making it awkward to compete with real states for anything.