jonetta rose barras: DC’s mayor and council play dodgeball around Washington Commanders stadium deal

“The whole dynamic is pretty toxic,” declared one of nearly a dozen DC political and government insiders who agreed to speak with me for this article. Their names were withheld so that they could speak candidly about behind-the-scenes maneuvers and machinations by Mayor Muriel Bowser and the DC Council, including Chair Phil Mendelson, surrounding construction of a multibillion-dollar sports and entertainment complex on the current RFK Stadium site in Ward 7.

In late April, flanked by Washington Commanders owner and managing partner Josh Harris and National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell, Bowser announced a nearly $4 billion deal that would include construction of a new, roofed, state-of-the-art stadium, facilitating the return of Washington’s long-lost football team while igniting one of the largest development projects in the District’s recent history. Several councilmembers were seated in the audience at that announcement; quite notably, neither they nor Mendelson had been called to share the limelight that day, although the legislature stood between Bowser, Harris, Goodell and the fulfillment of their dreams.

“That annoyed Mendelson,” said the insider.

Since that fateful day, there has been much acrimony, mostly between Bowser and Mendelson, who dislike — or downright hate — each other, according to people with whom I spoke. She has indirectly accused him of slowing the city’s economic growth groove by refusing to move expeditiously so an initial vote on the Commanders deal can occur by July 15. 

He has accused her of withholding critical information, making it difficult for the council to engage in “due diligence” and ensure the District squeezes every possible benefit from the budding partnership with the football team.

The level of animus is baffling.

After all, Nationals Park provides solid evidence of what a well-constructed, sports-centered economic development strategy can mean for DC. Sure, there was controversy at the time about who should pay for the baseball stadium — although real estate magnate Ted Lerner and others had just put together a nearly half-billion-dollar bid to bring a team to the District. 

However, looking now at the before and after pictures of the Southeast area where the ballpark is located and reviewing the fiscal impact data, who would dare conclude it was a mistake? 

Further, wasn’t that history one reason the mayor and the council chair worked together last year to hold onto Monumental Sports, owner of the Washington Wizards, Capitals and Mystics? In December, Bowser and councilmembers stood together inside Capital One Arena praising a multimillion-dollar deal that included the city acquiring ownership of the building while facilitating Monumental’s control over additional properties in the Chinatown-Gallery Place area.

What happened to that kind of collaboration?

Truth be told, there are legitimate concerns with the proposal Bowser presented for the RFK site. For example, she asserted that there will be new housing, retail and restaurants on the 180-acre campus. However, the legislation submitted to the council provides no accounting of the precise number of units to be built, by whom, when, or for how much money. Equally true, there are no details about the kind of retail being sought for the site. 

Unless those elements are secured, the Commanders stadium will most likely be a drive-by economic development project for Ward 7, with a food court and parking garages that fail to permanently lift the adjacent communities.

When I asked the Bowser administration about the absence of this information, a spokesperson for the deputy mayor for planning and economic development reiterated, “We expect to be able to deliver over 6,400 housing units, 30% of which would be affordable.” The spokesperson failed to respond to an additional email in which I asked for an explanation of why housing was not addressed in the mayoral legislation, originally submitted as part of the Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Support Act.

I raised that issue with Mendelson during my interview with him on Saturday. Not until a press briefing on Monday principally related to a regular legislative session did Mendelson publicly cite that issue as a concern. Instead, most of the allegations being thrown around by him and the mayor are nothing more than political gamesmanship between competing branches of government. Who should be declared the winning quarterback?

Other elements appear to be protective couching. No one wants to be blamed for dropping the ball in the event the Commanders pull out of the deal. 

The last time around, in the 1990s, negotiating and political ineptitude led to the relocation of the team to Prince George’s County, and then-Mayor Sharon Pratt’s popularity began its downward spiral. Fair or not, the departure of the Redskins will forever be the dominant marker for her singular mayoral term. 

Considering what people told me in my interviews, it appears Mendelson and his council colleagues likely will be the ones held accountable if that disastrous outcome repeats itself. “He keeps saying he wants a better deal, but he doesn’t know what he wants,” one insider said. 

“Intuitively, he thinks anything can be improved, and he’s probably right. Except he doesn’t know how to improve it,” said a political operative who has worked with both branches of government.

Terry Lynch, a longtime civic leader who has announced his candidacy for Ward 1 councilmember, accused legislators of “acting like bureaucrats.”

“We have so many families and residents that need jobs that come with this. Delays are not what they need,” Lynch added.

“[Mendelson] just wants to say he negotiated a better deal than the mayor,” said a senior government manager. “He hates the mayor. There is no reason the council can’t get this done on time.”

Defending the council, a business leader said Mendelson hasn’t been effective at explaining his concerns. “Most people are not watching his briefing with the press before the council’s legislative sessions.”

“This thing is complicated,” continued the business leader, “There are five tax abatements alone. [Councilmembers] are genuinely trying to get information and details.”

In my interview with him, Mendelson dismissed allegations that his actions are driven by any personal animus toward Bowser — although underlying his comments is much dissatisfaction with her treatment of him and his colleagues. He bristled at my suggestion that she had engaged in negotiations with the council over the terms of the deal.

“There was no negotiation with her. She sent the bill down to the council for approval,” said Mendelson, adding, “The way [the legislation] is drafted she would never have to come back to the council.”

Mendelson also asserted that he is adhering to the law and the council’s procedures when pushing against what he called an unreasonable timetable for review of a complex deal. “As you know, in order to approve a tax abatement, there has to be a financial analysis,” he explained, noting that preparing one can take many weeks although the city’s chief financial officer is hoping to have it completed more quickly in this case. 

“An economic impact analysis is being conducted by our budget office,” he continued, suggesting the one prepared by the mayor’s office is a joke. 

Robert Bobb, founding president of The Robert Bobb Group and a former city administrator during Mayor Anthony Williams’ tenure, has been hired by the council to examine the entire deal, with an eye toward how to improve the benefits for the District, including residents and businesses, while minimizing potential financial risks.

He is no novice in this arena. Bobb and his firm helped prepare an extensive report for Bowser last year around the viability of a football resurrection in DC, including a cost-benefit analysis based on national and local data. He was also a key person behind the construction of Nationals Park, including negotiations of a project-labor agreement that guaranteed jobs for unionized workers. 

Some councilmembers are interested in mandating a similar agreement for every segment of the stadium project, including the ancillary development to be handled by the Commanders. However, small African American businesses often are not unionized, and there are worries that imposing such a requirement could lock them out. 

Mendelson told me the various reports and analyses he is awaiting will result in the deal being “refined and improved.” He didn’t offer specifics about what those changes could be, however.

Undoubtedly, Mendelson’s belief that the mayor deliberately sidelined both him and the council helped spur his decision to reach out directly to the Commanders’ leadership, who are interested in shoring up their relationship with the legislature. 

In fact, responding to my question on Saturday, Mendelson confirmed that councilmembers had received an invitation from the Commanders to join team representatives for dinner on Monday at Cafe Milano in Georgetown. At that point, he said, everyone except Ward 5 Councilmember Zachary Parker and Ward 4’s Janeese Lewis George had indicated they would attend.

Still, many people are casting Mendelson as the chief antagonist in the stadium drama. That perception may have been exacerbated last week when he, aided by Council Chair Pro Tempore Kenyan McDuffie, removed specific sections related to RFK development from the Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Support Act. 

They reintroduced those provisions as a separate proposal, without any substantial changes from what had been submitted by Bowser. A two-part public hearing has been scheduled for July 29 and 30 — after the council is scheduled to take its final vote on the budget.

A policy document, the Budget Support Act incorporates the legal language necessary to implement the spending and revenue changes requested by the mayor or established and approved by the council. The parts of the bill removed by Mendelson and McDuffie spelled out the financial and implementing details of Bowser’s agreement with the Commanders: what entity would actually own the stadium and the adjacent sportsplex (Pro-Football LLC); how much money the city would invest, for what components of the development, and what mechanisms would be used (principally revenue bonds); what taxes would or would not be paid by the stadium owners and the lifespan of any approved abatements; and what public benefits might accrue for District small businesses, among other mandates. 

“No one should infer from the introduction of this bill that funding in the Mayor’s proposed budget for the Washington Commanders Football Team is in jeopardy,” Mendelson said in a statement issued after he and McDuffie introduced their bill. “Councilmembers have said they support leaving the funding, as proposed by the Mayor, in the budget.”

Actually, the money may remain in the budget, but the mayor would be unable to spend those funds without the authorization established by the Budget Support Act or subsequent legislation.

“There is some truth to that,” Mendelson confirmed during our telephone interview.

He also made clear to me that he doesn’t intend to bring the council back from its summer recess to vote on stadium legislation. “We’ll look at dates when we get around to adopting the legislation,” he told me. “We’re working as quickly as we can.”

Translation: The council will blow the July 15 deadline. Who knows when it will take the required vote to move the project forward? 

Mendelson hasn’t specified a timeline, although discussion at Tuesday’s informal breakfast meeting strongly suggested that legislators are aiming for late September. However, accomplishing that goal seems to require everything proceeding smoothly after the scheduled public hearings. 

Given the city’s history and the fractured mayoral-council relationship, Bowser may be right to agonize over whether Harris and his team will end up staying in Maryland. 

Republicans who approved the RFK land transfer to DC have made clear that they did so with the understanding there would be a new stadium. Sources told me they are prepared to move in, rescind the lease and put the project in federal hands. 

They like Harris; he is no stranger to them.

“Once the latter happens, it’s over,” said the business leader. “There will be no [Certified Business Enterprise] mandates, no first source requirements, and no taxes going to the District.” 

DC’s economy will not receive the boost it desperately needs. Period. Full stop.

jonetta rose barras is an author and DC-based freelance journalist, covering national and local issues. She can be reached at thebarrasreport@gmail.com.