What Would You Do With RFK Stadium?

[RobbieL2415]

Keep it? Demolish it? Renovate it?

Personally I would like to see it torn down, the land sold back to NPS and set aside for a new monument.

[jeffandnicole]

A monument for what?

[1995hoo]

Tear it down and replace it with a new stadium for the Redskins to replace FedEx Field, though I would give the Redskins less favorable financial terms than the Nationals or DC United got. A football stadium benefits a city far less than an indoor arena like Verizon Center (which Abe Pollin paid for, though the District paid for a lot of infrastructure work) or a baseball park, simply because a football stadium gets used for far fewer events than the others do. FedEx might get used 20 times a year–eight regular-season Redskin games, two preseason Redskin games, maybe a Redskin playoff game (been a few years for that!), one or two college football games per year, typically one or two soccer games (usually international exhibitions), and in some years there might be a concert or two depending on who's touring in a given year (last year U2 played FedEx; this year Taylor Swift did; most other stadium tours recently have gone to Nationals Park). That's about it for large-scale events unless you build a dome or retractable roof that would allow you to host things like the NCAA Final Four. (The Redskins were not interested in using FedEx for an outdoor NHL game.) So in the scheme of things, the far smaller number of events means the city draws a lot less of a financial benefit compared to a baseball park (81 home games per year, plus some concerts) or an indoor arena (41 home regular-season games each for hockey and basketball, plus college sports, plus other indoor sports, plus concerts, plus all sorts of other events like Disney on Ice, monster truck shows, etc.).

The RFK site is far and away the best location in the DC area for the football stadium, although I don't know what the story is on the fate of the RFK Stadium Access Road that connected Lot 8 to the Southeast—Southwest Freeway via those tunnels under Barney Circle. That road was a very important access route for that stadium.

[abefroman329]

I would have renovated it and left it the home of the Nats. The views from the upper deck were great, and Nats Park is an $800 million white elephant, taxpayer money that would have been better spent on any number of things.

The Redskins are never moving back to DC. DC will never put up with Dan Snyder's incessant horseshit the way Maryland will.

[Beltway]

I would have renovated it and left it the home of the Nats. The views from the upper deck were great, and Nats Park is an $800 million white elephant, taxpayer money that would have been better spent on any number of things.

Lots of surface parking at RFK site.  Relatively little in comparison at the Nats site.

The Redskins are never moving back to DC. DC will never put up with Dan Snyder's incessant horseshit the way Maryland will.

I doubt they will ever move to the Potomac Yards site, as nearly all of it has now been developed.

[Max Rockatansky]

Drop it on Richard Nixon:

[abefroman329]

Drop it on Richard Nixon:

I loved that scene, have no idea how accurately they portrayed RFK as it looked then, though.

[abefroman329]

I would have renovated it and left it the home of the Nats. The views from the upper deck were great, and Nats Park is an $800 million white elephant, taxpayer money that would have been better spent on any number of things.

Lots of surface parking at RFK site.  Relatively little in comparison at the Nats site.

The Redskins are never moving back to DC. DC will never put up with Dan Snyder's incessant horseshit the way Maryland will.

I doubt they will ever move to the Potomac Yards site, as nearly all of it has now been developed.

You don't need as much surface parking when three Metro lines stop nearby. Are you talking about Potomac Yard in Alexandria? I didn't know that was ever under consideration.

[jon daly]

I had no idea that DC United no longer played there.

Personally, I think one, and probably only one, of these cookie-cutter ashtray stadia needs to be preserved. How many are left? THere's RFK and O.co or whatever the one in Oakland is called. I can't think of any others OTTOMH.

[Flint1979]

I had no idea that DC United no longer played there.

Personally, I think one, and probably only one, of these cookie-cutter ashtray stadia needs to be preserved. How many are left? THere's RFK and O.co or whatever the one in Oakland is called. I can't think of any others OTTOMH.

They have a new stadium that just opened about a month ago. It's not far from Nationals Park.

[Beltway]

You don't need as much surface parking when three Metro lines stop nearby.

I would argue that only Navy Yard Station well-serves Nationals Park.  It is on the Green Line and requires a transfer from any other line.

RFK is served by Stadium-Armory Station and 3 lines pass thru there, Blue, Orange and Silver.  Better served than Nationals Park, IMO.

Are you talking about Potomac Yard in Alexandria? I didn't know that was ever under consideration.

Not officially, but it has been seriously discussed from time to time in the past.

[Henry]

Since the Redskins haven't played at RFK in 20-plus years, and no other team calls it home, I say tear it down, and reuse the site for a Park & Ride.

The RFK site is far and away the best location in the DC area for the football stadium, although I don't know what the story is on the fate of the RFK Stadium Access Road that connected Lot 8 to the Southeast–Southwest Freeway via those tunnels under Barney Circle. That road was a very important access route for that stadium.

IIRC, that was a pared-down version of a much grander plan for I-295, which was to connect to I-95 somewhere in the vicinity of New York Avenue.

[abefroman329]

You don't need as much surface parking when three Metro lines stop nearby.

I would argue that only Navy Yard Station well-serves Nationals Park.  It is on the Green Line and requires a transfer from any other line.

RFK is served by Stadium-Armory Station and 3 lines pass thru there, Blue, Orange and Silver.  Better served than Nationals Park, IMO.

Are you talking about Potomac Yard in Alexandria? I didn't know that was ever under consideration.

Not officially, but it has been seriously discussed from time to time in the past.

Yes, I was talking about RFK when I said "served by three Metro lines."  Nats Park is poorly served by public transit, with one line that runs every 20-30 minutes on weekends.

[Beltway]

Yes, I was talking about RFK when I said “served by three Metro lines.” Nats Park is poorly served by public transit, with one line that runs every 20-30 minutes on weekends.

Lots of surface parking at RFK site.  Relatively little in comparison at the Nats site.  Not good!

[1995hoo]

Jack Kent Cooke actually had a deal with then-Gov. Doug Wlider to build the stadium at Potomac Yard; I believe the Redskins were to help finance a Metro stop there as well. Local opposition killed it and the land is now much too developed to accommodate a stadium. It was a poor location anyway, though it's amusing that opponents cited traffic as a concern and instead they got a shopping center and dense residential development that generate traffic every day of the year (except maybe Christmas) instead of 15—20 days a year.

[Beltway]

It was not either-or with Potomac Yard, a stadium and parking lots would have used maybe 1/4 of the land area.  But too developed today.

[jeffandnicole]

You don't need as much surface parking when three Metro lines stop nearby.

I would argue that only Navy Yard Station well-serves Nationals Park.  It is on the Green Line and requires a transfer from any other line.

RFK is served by Stadium-Armory Station and 3 lines pass thru there, Blue, Orange and Silver.  Better served than Nationals Park, IMO.

Are you talking about Potomac Yard in Alexandria? I didn't know that was ever under consideration.

Not officially, but it has been seriously discussed from time to time in the past.

Yes, I was talking about RFK when I said "served by three Metro lines."  Nats Park is poorly served by public transit, with one line that runs every 20-30 minutes on weekends.

Mass Transit at/near stadiums should be good.  Mass Transit at/near stadiums can be bad though.  As is the case above, no doubt endless PAs talk about taking the train to the Nats stadium.  Except, the mass transit leadership itself doesn't seem to get the message, and does nothing to assist in their basic functions of moving people.  Thus, people feel they have to drive, or have to walk further to another station so they're not crammed into the closest station.  None of that helps people's perceptions of Metro.

In Philly, all the major sports play in the South Philly stadium complex area, which is served by SEPTA's Broad Street Subway line.  While normal subway schedules are fine for many Flyers, Sixers and even Phillies games, Eagles games could overload the system if not handled properly.  Fortunately, the Broad Street Line ends at the stadium complex, with plenty of storage capacity.  SEPTA will stack the trains at the end of the line, then run them on a load and go basis as people leave en-mass at the end of the game.  They also have the ability to run some express trains as well, bypassing about 70% or so of the stops.  Normally on weeknights, the Broad Street line doesn't run after midnight.  However, when the Eagles play Sunday & Monday night games, they keep the trains running until necessary.  There's plenty of bad things to say about SEPTA, but when it comes to sporting events they usually get it right.

Actually the station (formerly Pattison Ave & AT&T Station, now NRG Station) is actually a 2 platform tunnel, with the normal platform below street level, then an additional platform below that!  It rises to meet up with the normal track slightly north of this area.  That said, the bottom platform hasn't been used in ages. The station also used to be directly outside the former stadiums and arenas there.  Since new stadiums/arenas were built on the opposite ends of the parking lots, people do have to walk a bit further to get to the games.  Wished they could have installed some sort of pedestrian tunnel system to help with that, especially in cold/bad weather.

[DandyDan]

Whatever you would do, I would move this post to the sports section.

[Flint1979]

I know after Cubs and White Sox games in Chicago the Red Line runs every 6 minutes.

[Alps]

How about a multi-use park with public athletic facilities? Not many of those in DC.

[RobbieL2415]

How about a multi-use park with public athletic facilities? Not many of those in DC.

The stadium is already sitting on parkland. You could demolish the place, cut-and-cover C St. and join the two current parks together.

[Beltway]

I know after Cubs and White Sox games in Chicago the Red Line runs every 6 minutes.

The WMATA Green Line could run a lot more trains after a Nats game if they wanted to.  But patrons would have to transfer at L'Enfant Plaza or Gallery Place to get to any other line.

[Flint1979]

I know after Cubs and White Sox games in Chicago the Red Line runs every 6 minutes.

The WMATA Green Line could run a lot more trains after a Nats game if they wanted to.  But patrons would have to transfer at L'Enfant Plaza or Gallery Place to get to any other line.

What is the ridership on the Green Line? I know CTA's Red Line handles around 250,000 passengers on weekdays.

[1995hoo]

I know after Cubs and White Sox games in Chicago the Red Line runs every 6 minutes.

The WMATA Green Line could run a lot more trains after a Nats game if they wanted to.  But patrons would have to transfer at L'Enfant Plaza or Gallery Place to get to any other line.

When we want the Yellow Line to Virginia after a Nats game, we change at Archives. Better than L'Enfant for two reasons: (1) We get on the Yellow ahead of the crowds at L'Enfant, so we get seats. (2) Archives is an island platform, whereas L'Enfant has side platforms, so changing trains is easier at Archives–just walk across instead of choking down onto the escalators with all the sheeple at L'Enfant.

[Beltway]

What is the ridership on the Green Line? I know CTA's Red Line handles around 250,000 passengers on weekdays.

Less than that, but they could run 8-car trains every 4 minutes per direction when they want to. 

Car capacity is 175 people including seated and standees.  That would be 21,000 passengers per hour.