DC council set for Aug. 1 vote on updated Commanders stadium plan after Trump threatened to block it
The updated plan would support a $3.7 billion redevelopment project featuring a new stadium, 6,000 housing units — including 1,800 designated as affordable — and retail space and parkland across the 174-acre RFK campus.
Mendelson's statement comes days after President Donald Trump threatened to block federal support for the stadium project unless the team reverted to its former name, 'Redskins.' He called the 'Commanders' name 'ridiculous.'
Under the revised proposal, Mendelson's office estimates, the redevelopment could generate $26.6 billion in tax revenue over 30 years. The District would contribute $1 billion toward the stadium project, while the team would fund the remaining $2.7 billion.
'It's clear that the Commanders showed through their negotiations their commitment to the District,' Mendelson said. 'The process has been extremely productive, and they've been a cooperative partner.'
Commanders team president Mark Clouse — whose club opened training camp in Virginia this week — welcomed the Council's timeline.
'We are thrilled the Council will vote to hopefully support this project on August 1,' Clouse said in a statement. 'With today's announcement, the opportunity to bring the team back to its spiritual home and revitalize a critical part of the nation's capital is one step closer.'
The Commanders currently play at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Maryland, but aim to open a new venue in 2030.
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser, who negotiated the original plan with Commanders owner Josh Harris in April, praised the new framework as 'the most important economic development project in the history of Washington, D.C.'
Momentum for the site's redevelopment accelerated after the House Oversight Committee, led by Rep. James Comer, a Kentucky Republican, approved a lease that gave the city control over the long-dormant RFK area.
'It is time to unlock the city's full economic potential,' said Comer's chief of staff, Austin Hacker. 'Congress empowered District leaders with the responsibility to revitalize the long-neglected and deteriorating RFK Memorial Stadium campus in our nation's capital.'
The ownership group led by Harris has been considering locations in Washington, Maryland and Virginia since buying the team from Dan Snyder in 2022. The most recent progress came when Congress passed a bill transferring the RFK Stadium land to D.C. that was signed by former President Joe Biden in early January, after lobbying on Capitol Hill by Harris and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell late last year.
That paved the way for making it possible to tear down the decaying husk of the old stadium and replace it with a mixed-use development, including the new playing field for the Commanders.
___
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Record
5 hours ago
- Daily Record
Keir Starmer to raise Gaza starvation with Donald Trump during Turnberry summit
The Prime Minister and President will hold talks at the Ayrshire gold course. Keir Starmer will raise the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and try to seal a US trade deal during a high-stakes summit with Donald Trump on Monday. The Prime Minister will also demand tough action against Vladimir Putin when he meets the US President at Turnberry. The Republican arrived at Prestwick airport on Friday to kickstart a five day trip that will combine golf and political meetings. He played his Turnberry course over the weekend and will travel to his other golf club at the Menie Estate in Aberdeenshire on Monday as well. One of his final acts at Turnberry will be talks with Starmer on a range of international and domestic issues. Condemnation of the Israeli Government' s actions in Palestine are growing as people in Gaza starve. Starmer, who said he is 'horrified' by the crisis, wants Trump to revive ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas when they meet. He also hopes to get a trade deal between the US and UK, which is currently in draft form, over the line. The President and the Prime Minister will travel together for a private engagement in Aberdeen after their Turnberry meeting. Trump will open his third golf course on Tuesda y during his stay in Aberdeenshire, where he is also expected to meet First Minister John Swinney. Trump was seen teeing off at his Turnberry golf course over the weekend. A woman shouted 'We love you Trump' as the US president played golf. Wearing a white baseball camp branded USA, Trump waved to journalists as he arrived on the green at Trump Turnberry in Girvan, Ayrshire, driving a white golf buggy. A female well-wisher could be heard repeatedly shouting 'we love you Trump' and 'thank you'. Someone else shouted: 'Trump Trump Trump Trump '. The sound of cheering could be heard as Trump took a shot. Protesters carrying placards stood in the dunes at Trump Turnberry, urging the president: 'Don't trust Starmer '. Three people carried placards reading: 'President Trump don't trust Starmer'. The hand-painted sign also branded the Prime Minister an explicit term. A woman holding it wore a red baseball cap with fake hair which read Make America Great Again, and appeared to laugh as she watched Mr Trump. Another female supporter dressed in a floral anorak, held a US flag and wore a baseball cap reading Make England Great Again. She carried a smaller sign which also branded Sir Keir an explicit term. They were joined by a man dressed in black, who wore an Adidas baseball cap. A Trump supporter who travelled from Liverpool to Ayrshire in the hope of seeing the US President at his Turnberry golf course said he is 'chuffed' to have interacted with the President. Tom English, 37, who made the four-and-a-half hour journey with some other Trump supporters, explained: 'We rushed up here hoping to get a glimpse of him. And that's happened this morning when we've got to interact with him a little bit. 'We couldn't really hear him because he was trying to shout to us in this wind, in the Scottish wind on the coast. So it was kind of hard to hear what he said. 'But he blew a kiss to the girls. Gave us a little wave. Trump junior gave us a little wave. And that's what it was about. 'We just wanted to see him in the flesh, and to get that interaction was an added bonus.' When asked what he and the other supporters had said to the president, English recounted: 'Just that we love him, basically. The UK loves Trump. Don't believe the mainstream media.'
Daily Mail
6 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Skip Bayless makes bizarre 'arrogant white person' claim as he weighs in on Trump's NFL Redskins controversy
Sports analyst Skip Bayless has performed a U-turn over Washington's NFL name change after Donald Trump 's demand to the franchise. Known as the Commanders since 2022, Washington's football team dropped the controversial 'Redskins' moniker five years ago amid uproar over the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police. However, the president last week called for the franchise to return to its former divisive name in a baffling Truth Social rant. And Bayless, despite previously branding the 'Redskins' name 'racist', suggested he would embrace Trump's name change on one condition. 'If someone can conclusively demonstrate that a majority of tribal leaders across America are all for the return of Redskins and Indians as team nicknames, then I would be all for it,' Bayless said in a video shared to his X platform. 'We went through this a number of years ago back in my First Take days. Some tribal leaders would speak out pro and some would speak out con. I just don't know. But if you showed me that a consensus were now pro, you know, I'm just hoping this will at least spark a new wave of debate.' 'I'm hoping tribal leaders everywhere will just stand up and speak out on this starting now. Whatever their consensus opinion is, if there is a consensus, and maybe there isn't, but I'll stand behind the majority. Maybe I'm just being just another naively arrogant white person, but I must admit I do miss Washington DC's NFL team being called the Redskins,' he concluded. Bayless added earlier in his podcast that the 'Commanders' nickname 'sounds dumber than ever,' especially after quarterback Jayden Daniels led Washington to the NFC Championship game. The former Fox Sports host's argument was a major change in tune from his past opinions on the old moniker. However, he did still maintain that he believed the 'Redskins' name stirred controversy. 'To me, Redskins remains a racist nickname,' Bayless also said in the 12-minute clip. 'What if an NFL team had been nicknamed the "Blackskins"?' Bayless's remarks come after Trump claimed that there was a 'clamoring' for the 'Redskins' nickname to make a return. 'The Washington 'Whatever's' should IMMEDIATELY change their name back to the Washington Redskins Football Team,' Trump wrote on social media. 'There is a big clamoring for this.' While Trump may be slightly off about the team name (they were the 'Washington Redskins' and then the 'Washington Football Team' but never the 'Washington Redskins Football Team'), he is right about uproar over the changes. The president took to social media last week to claimed there was a 'clamoring' for the change Fans and even some Native American groups have voiced support for the team's new ownership group to revert to 'Redskins.' Several public opinion polls of self-identified Native Americans have found most were not offended by the term, while critics have pointed to academic research by the University of Michigan and UC Berkeley that found the opposite was true. Trump appeared to reference the public polling in favor of a name change last weekend. 'Our great Indian people, in massive numbers, want this to happen,' he claimed. 'Their heritage and prestige is systematically being taken away from them. Times are different now than they were three or four years ago. We are a Country of passion and common sense. OWNERS, GET IT DONE!!!' He also demanded the same from MLB's Cleveland Guardians, née: 'Indians.' 'Likewise, the Cleveland Indians, one of the six original baseball teams, with a storied past,' he wrote. It's unclear where Trump is getting 'six original baseball teams' from. The NHL famously has six original teams and MLB's National League was once limited to a half dozen clubs. However, the Guardians franchise is in the American League, where it has been known as the Broncos, Naps and Indians before adopting its current moniker in 2022. Of course, 'Indians' is not quite the same as 'Redskins' – a traditionally pejorative term detested by some Native Americans and tolerated by others. Trump later underlined his demands on social media, writing in a second post: 'My statement on the Washington Redskins has totally blown up, but only in a very positive way. 'I may put a restriction on them that if they don't change the name back to the original 'Washington Redskins,' and get rid of the ridiculous moniker, 'Washington Commanders,' I won't make a deal for them to build a Stadium in Washington. 'The Team would be much more valuable, and the Deal would be more exciting for everyone. Cleveland should do the same with the Cleveland Indians. The Owner of the Cleveland Baseball Team, Matt Dolan, who is very political, has lost three Elections in a row because of that ridiculous name change. 'What he doesn't understand is that if he changed the name back to the Cleveland Indians, he might actually win an Election. Indians are being treated very unfairly. MAKE INDIANS GREAT AGAIN (MIGA)!' NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Commanders owner Joshua Harris met Trump at the Oval Office in May to announce plans to bring the league's draft to the National Mall in 2027. Washington was selected as draft hosts just days after DC mayor Muriel Bowser announced a plan to bring the team back to the city with a new field on the site of the old RFK Stadium, where the team then known as the Redskins played until 1996. Currently, RFK Stadium stands on the site on the banks of the Anacostia River in the eastern part of the city. The building has been in the process of a prolonged demolition that has been delayed multiple times. The building was closed back in September 2019, but structural demolition has only begun this year. It hasn't just been the name that led to division among Native Americans. A year ago, the family of the man depicted in the former Redskins logo urged the team to bring his image back to the helmet after years of controversy over the image. A football and a jersey sit on top the Resolute desk in the office of President Donald Trump as he announces a plan to bring the NFL Draft to the National Mall in the spring of 2027 'The fans want him back and we want him back,' Thomas White Calf, a great nephew of late Blackfeet Nation chief John Two Guns White Calf, told Fox News after meeting with Senator Steve Daines (Republican, Montana ). Thomas' pleas came four years after the team began its rebranding, first becoming the Washington Football Team on a temporary basis before adopting 'Commanders' and dropping the feathered John Two Guns White Calf emblem. 'Our ancestor was the most famous and most photographed native in history,' Thomas told Fox alongside his mother, Delphine White Calf, a niece of the late Blackfeet chief. 'Two Guns was also the face on the Indian head nickel. I'm proud of him. The Blackfeet are proud of him.' The club began as the Boston Braves in 1932 before changing its name to 'Redskins' a year later and moving to the US Capital in 1937. But it wasn't until 1971 that Blackfeet leader Blackie Wetzel created a portrait of John Two Guns White Calf that ultimately became the team's logo.
Powys County Times
6 hours ago
- Powys County Times
US-EU deal sets 15% tariff on most goods and averts threat of trade war
The United States and the European Union have agreed to a trade deal setting a 15% tariff on most goods, US President Donald Trump announced, staving off higher import taxes on both sides that might have sent shockwaves through economies around the world. The announcement came after Mr Trump and European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen met briefly at Mr Trump's Turnberry golf course in Scotland. Their private meeting was a culmination of months of bargaining, with the White House deadline of August 1 approaching for imposing punishing tariffs on the 27-member EU. 'It was a very interesting negotiation. I think it's going to be great for both parties,' Mr Trump said. The agreement, he said, was 'a good deal for everybody' and 'a giant deal with lots of countries'. Ms von der Leyen said the deal 'will bring stability, it will bring predictability that's very important for our businesses on both sides of the Atlantic'. Mr Trump said the EU had agreed to buy some 750 billion dollars' (£558 billion) worth of US energy and to invest 600 billion dollars (£446 billion) more in America, as well as making a major purchase of military equipment. The US leader said: 'We are agreeing that the tariff straight across for automobiles and everything else will be a straight across tariff of 15%. 'We have a tariff of 15%. We have the opening up of all of the European countries.' Ms von der Leyen said the 15% tariffs were 'across the board, all inclusive' and that 'indeed, basically the European market is open'. Before the meeting began, Mr Trump pledged to change what he characterised as 'a very one-sided transaction, very unfair to the United States'. 'I think both sides want to see fairness,' the Republican President told reporters. His EU Commission counterpart spoke of rebalancing. Ms von der Leyen said the US and EU combined have the world's largest trade volume, encompassing hundreds of millions of people and trillions of dollars. She added that Mr Trump was 'known as a tough negotiator and dealmaker'. 'But fair,' Mr Trump added. Together, the EU and the US are a market of 800 million people. And nearly 44 percent of global GDP. It's the biggest trade deal ever ↓ — Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) July 27, 2025 For months, Mr Trump has threatened most of the world with large tariffs in hopes of shrinking major US trade deficits with many key trading partners. More recently, he had hinted that any deal with the EU would have to 'buy down' the currently scheduled tariff rate of 30%. During his comments before the deal was announced, he pointed to a recent US agreement with Japan that set tariff rates for many goods at 15% and suggested the EU could agree to something similar. Asked then if he would be willing to accept tariff rates lower than that, Mr Trump said 'no'. Joining Ms von der Leyen were Maros Sefcovic, the EU's chief trade negotiator; Bjorn Seibert, the head of von der Leyen's Cabinet; Sabine Weyand, the commission's directorate-general for trade, and Tomas Baert, head of trade and agriculture at the EU's delegation to the US. The US and EU seemed close to a deal earlier this month, but Mr Trump instead threatened the 30% tariff rate. The deadline for the Trump administration to begin imposing tariffs has shifted in recent weeks but is now firm, the administration insists. 'No extensions, no more grace periods. August 1, the tariffs are set, they'll go into place, Customs will start collecting the money and off we go,' US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick told Fox News on Sunday. He added, however, that even after that 'people can still talk to President Trump. I mean, he's always willing to listen'. Without an agreement, the EU said it was prepared to retaliate with tariffs on hundreds of American products, ranging from beef and car parts to beer and Boeing planes. If Mr Trump eventually followed through on his threat of tariffs against Europe, it could have made everything from French cheese and Italian leather goods to German electronics and Spanish pharmaceuticals more expensive in the United States.
