By Peter Gleason
Don’t look now but nobody wants the Washington Redskins proposed new stadium.
Owner Dan Snyder floated the idea of somewhere in the DC metropolitan area, and that suddenly sank like a rock.
The DC site where RFK Stadium is was laughed at.
And now the proposed site in Maryland has reportedly been withdrawn from consideration by one of Snyder’s main allies.
Snyder had frantically worked with Republicans to sneak a provision into December’s ill-fated federal spending bill that would’ve greased the skids for a return to the site of RFK Stadium, in DC’s Ward 6, where absolutely no one wants it.
As a fallback plan, and as a source of leverage in negotiations with district leadership, Snyder also engaged Maryland governor Larry Hogan in “closed-door” negotiations over a site just outside the Capitol Beltway, in Prince George’s County, adjacent to the massive National Harbor development.
The DC plan was scuttled when congress failed to pass the spending bill and the federal government was shut down for a record 35 days.
Snyder’s plan required the support of a Republican-led House of Representatives—now that Democrats control the House, a provision opposed by a majority of DC residents is far less likely to become law. And now that Maryland backup plan appears to be just as fucked, according to a report from The Washington Post:
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) has informed the Washington Redskins that he is withdrawing from efforts to persuade the team to build its next stadium in Oxon Cove Park, adjacent to MGM National Harbor, “at this time,” his spokeswoman confirmed Tuesday night.
Hogan is reportedly still trying to gain control over the location from the Department of the Interior, but is no longer working toward using it to host the crummy local NFL team. The franchise will still work toward grabbing up that RFK site, but that plan must now proceed without a friendly federal government, and without a friendly DC council, and without the support of locals, and without the leverage of competing proposals. It could still happen—in our hell universe, only a maniac would bet against it—but it will not be the steamrolling it was shaping up to be back in the fall.
Snyder can’t break loose from the half-assed pop-up suburb currently hosting his lousy team until 2027 at the earliest, and the far-flung echoing eyesore where the Skins nowadays go to get taunted by away fans has become their true spiritual home. With a little more luck, Snyder and his busted operation will be stuck there forever.
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