Amid RFK Stadium negotiations, Sen. Cardin’s ‘first priority’ is to keep Commanders in Maryland

Amid negotiations on Capitol Hill over what should happen with the old RFK Stadium site in D.C., Maryland U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin said, “Our first priority is to keep the Commanders in Prince George’s County.”

“Those conversations are continuing,” Cardin told WTOP.

Cardin and other state leaders have been actively talking with officials from the Washington Commanders and the NFL, he said.


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“There have been meetings that have taken place, and I think they’ve been constructive,” Cardin said.

A bill that would give D.C. control of the federally-owned land RFK Stadium sits on has already passed in the House and through a Senate committee, paving the way for a vote in the full Senate.

If D.C. were to get control of the site, the city could redevelop the area, and it would be viewed as a major advantage for the District in potentially getting the Commanders to play there.

The Commanders have a lease at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Maryland, that runs through 2027, and the team is looking around for a new home.

“We believe in fair competition, and one of our concerns is that to give the District access to the RFK site without compensation tilts the scale in favor of D.C. over Maryland, which is something Congress should not do,” Cardin said. “I’ve always been very supportive of the needs of the District, and we want to make sure that we give them what they need, but we don’t want to tilt the scale.”

Cardin said, as part of the negotiations, he was seeking a guarantee that the Commanders would do something to redevelop the Landover site if the team did decide to move elsewhere.

“If they move to where the RFK site is in D.C., what arrangements are they going to make in regards to Landover?” Cardin asked. “We don’t want to see it become a vacant stadium that would be a blight to the community.”

“That is a legitimate concern, but our first priority is to keep the Commanders in Maryland,” Cardin repeated.

Reports surfaced this week that negotiations also involved Cardin and his Maryland colleague, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, asking for one of D.C.’s Air National Guard squadrons.

That first became a topic of interest for Maryland lawmakers back in March, when the Air Force announced it was turning Maryland’s Air National Guard squadron into one that’s focused on cyber defense on the ground.

The transition to cyber defense “aligns the Maryland Air National Guard with an enduring modern mission that meets the requirements of the National Defense Strategy,” the Air Force said in a statement.

“We’ve been working with the Air Force in regards to preserving Maryland’s National Guard air mission, and those discussions have been going on for some time,” Cardin said. “We’re still working very aggressively for that arrangement.”

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Nick Iannelli

Nick Iannelli can be heard covering developing and breaking news stories on WTOP.

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