Report: Commanders' Plan B could involve going to President Trump, Congress

NBC Sports

9 hours ago

The federal government could be moving from the big, beautiful bill to a sweet, swanky stadium.
The tail end of a report from Fox 5 in D.C. regarding the recent dinner hosted by the Commanders for members of the D.C. Council adds an important nugget regarding the potential fallback option for the Commanders, if the D.C. Council doesn't move quickly enough to allow the stadium to be opened by 2030.
Per the report, D.C. Council chairperson Phil Mendelson confirmed that he has heard talk of a Plan B that may involve the Commanders going to President Trump and members of Congress to make it happen on time.
So what would the Commanders expect the President to do? Pressure the D.C. Council with mean tweets? Come up with the cash that the D.C. Council is reluctant to invest for the project?
The mere mention of trying to use the federal government to get the stadium bill helps explain the decision for Commanders owner Josh Harris and Commissioner Roger Goodell to participate in an Oval Office dog-and-pony show regarding the holding of the 2027 NFL draft on the National Mall in D.C.
Of course, Republicans are supposed to be against excessive government spending. Which would, in theory, prompt Trump and those aligned with him to bristle at the idea of a pork-barrel project for the Hogs.
But the party has changed under the current and former chief executive. Political ideology has been replaced with adhering to whatever the President and those whispering in his ear want.
That's not a political comment. It's a comment about our current political reality. And it provides an opening for a multibillionaire like Harris to spin the wheel on the possibility of getting the President to support using hundreds of millions in taxpayer money to get the stadium built on the team's preferred timetable.
Even if it means naming the stadium after him.