NFL to cross milestone when new Washington stadium is built

On Monday, the Washington Commanders and Washington, D.C., jointly announced plans to bring the team back within city limits for the first time since moving to Landover, Md., in 1997. The Commanders will pay $2.7 billion while the public will front $1.147 billion to build a 65,000-seat stadium on the site of RFK Stadium, where the team played from 1961 until its move to the venue currently known as Northwest Stadium.

"Today is a defining moment for the DMV and the Washington Commanders. RFK Stadium holds a legendary place in our history – it's where the team dominated the NFL, capturing three Super Bowls and creating unforgettable memories for fans. Now, we have the opportunity to honor that legacy by building a new world-class stadium – one that is also a once-in-a-generation catalyst for uplifting and transforming our region," said team owner Josh Harris. "Working hand-in-hand with District and community leaders, we're focused on delivering an incredible home for our players and fans, creating a landmark venue that reflects the pride of our nation's capital, and sparking a new era of economic opportunity across the DMV. RFK was once a place our fans loved, and opponents feared – we're determined to make it that way again."

A rendering released by DC mayor Muriel Bowser's office shows a stadium with a glass roof with a view of the Capitol Building in the distance. It looks awesome.

And yet, it can be argued that the move indoors is the NFL's answer to the analytics revolution in Major League Baseball and the NBA -- a series of case-by-case decisions that make sense for each individual franchise, yet on the whole contribute to dampen the overall aesthetic of the game.

From when the Houston Oilers moved to the world's first domed stadium in 1968 until 2001, the NFL never had more than seven domed stadiums. As recently as 2019, there were eight. And yet by 2030, assuming all currently planned stadium moves take place as scheduled, 14 of the NFL's 30 venues will have roofs. 

For most of its history, football has been a game played in rain, sleet or shine. Pretty soon, it'll be that way half the time, and a game played in absolute perfect conditions the other half. 

The counter to this argument is that there's nothing written in stone that Detroit, Indianapolis and Minneapolis are the only cold-weather cities permitted by law to play indoors. If they can build domed stadiums, why can't Chicago, Cleveland and Washington? If Atlanta can have a dome, what's stopping Nashville? 

The Colts, Vikings, Lions, and Falcons are all on their second domed stadiums, and all three cities have hosted the Super Bowl and Final Four at least once since. Detroit has gotten Super Bowls in both the Silverdome and Field Field, and Minneapolis has done the same at the Metrodome and US Bank Stadium; Atlanta hosted two Super Bowls at the Georgia Dome and will host its second at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in 2028. Indianapolis has hosted "just" one Super Bowl, but is the annual home of the NFL Combine, the Big Ten Championship, and will host the Final Four next April. 

The Commanders believe their new stadium will bring "20-30 major events" per year and 200 events in total. 

And yet the irony here is that no matter how many Super Bowl- and Final Four-level stadiums there are, there's still only one Super Bowl and Final Four per year. Building the most palatial stadium the world has ever seen can't change the city or the weather that surrounds it. Dallas, for instance, hosted the Super Bowl, NBA All-Star Game, Final Four and CFP National Championship from 2010-15. None of those events have come back since, with no plans to do so in the immediate future. New Orleans, meanwhile, just hosted its 11th Super Bowl in spite of the Superdome, not because of it. 

Washington would probably argue that one Super Bowl and Final Four apiece is enough. Those events will be the cherries on top of a sundae consisting of a Morgan Wallen concert, high school proms, a DMV chamber of commerce conventions, and Commanders games every other Sunday from August to January. And they may be right. The economics of stadiums are fuzzy, but these multi-billion dollar palaces must be worth it or cities wouldn't keep building them. 

But as Nashville, Chicago, Cleveland and Washington all come to the same conclusion, pro football will look less like pro football than it ever has.