RFK Stadium bill officially becomes law

For those of you remember Schoolhouse Rock, you know the drill. A bill remains just a bill until the President signs it into law.

Today, the RFK Stadium bill became law.

Via Meagan Flynn of the Washington Post, President Joe Biden applied his John Hancock to the bill that gives the District of Columbia control of the RFK Stadium site for 99 years. This allows D.C. to redevelop the 170-plus-acre tracts for purposes that include a sports stadium.

The move officially opens the door for D.C. to negotiate with the Commanders, at a time when the franchise is trying to land a new stadium deal.

Opposition to the effort included a claim that it would be a waste of taxpayer money. While the bill (now law) devotes no federal funding to the building of a stadium, a stadium isn’t going to fund itself. And with the team setting up a competition between D.C. and Maryland and perhaps Virginia, it’s unlikely that the team will pay for the stadium by itself.

So, at some point, public money of some type will be introduced to the equation, in whichever jurisdiction the new Commanders stadium is built.