Despite being used only 10 times per year for NFL games (plus home postseason contests and, for some, a periodic Super Bowl), NFL stadiums become obsolete in roughly a single generation.
For Washington, where FedEx Field opened in 1997, the time is approaching for a new venue. Owner Daniel Snyder tells CSN Washington that the team has “started the process” of planning for a new home.
“Whether it’s Washington, D.C., whether it’s another stadium in Maryland, whether it’s a stadium in Virginia, we’ve started the process,” Snyder said. “We are going to push forward. We’ve started meeting with architectural firms. We are in the process of developing because it is a long term that you do it.”
Snyder says the new stadium would have a throwback look and feel.
“We’ve already seen some preliminary drawings and I’m going to be very retro with it,” Snyder said. “It’s gonna feel like RFK. It’s gonna move like RFK. I love that, I actually asked architectural firms to do it and they said that they can do it. I said that I think the lower bowl sections are going to want to rock the stadium like the old days.”
Snyder didn’t give a specific timetable for opening a new stadium, but he said, “I’d like to see it sooner than later.” He’d also like to see it host a fairly significant annual event.
“I think this region, not only this town, this region deserves a Super Bowl,” Snyder said. “It ought to be here, it would be a fantastic accomplishment. It’s the biggest sporting event in the globe. It’s the nation’s capital, it’s a no-brainer.”
It’s also a no-brainer that, as Snyder embarks on securing partial public funding (because one of the benefits of being really rich is finding a way to get other people to pay for your stuff), he’ll need to be willing to consider trading the team name for taxpayer money and, possibly, the privilege of hosting a Super Bowl. That way, Snyder can eventually declare victory in a debate that will end either with Snyder voluntarily changing the moniker in exchange for something tangible or involuntarily losing it, without any type of compensation.