The Washington Commanders football team announced plans Monday to leave its home in Prince George’s County to return to Washington, D.C. — where a new stadium would be built on the site of RFK Stadium.

The impending move represents a victory for officials in the District of Columbia, who wrested back control of the RFK land from the federal government to woo the NFL team. And it’s a loss for Prince George’s County and the state of Maryland, though officials are painting it as not so bad.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said that while he made “a strong effort” to keep the team playing in Prince George’s, he understands the desire to move. And in the end, he said, the community will benefit from new development at the stadium site.

When he was asked Monday what his message is for people who had hoped the team would stay, the governor said: “For folks who are living in Landover, I would say: Better days are ahead.”

Here’s what to know about what the Commanders’ deal in D.C. means for Maryland.

When is the move happening?

Under the deal struck between the owners of the Commanders and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s administration, both sides would put money into a multibillion-dollar new stadium complex on the RFK site that would open in 2030.

This would return the Commanders to the team’s previous home at RFK, where it played from 1961 through 1996, including three Super Bowl-winning teams in 1983, 1988 and 1992.

The team currently plays at Northwest Stadium in Landover, formerly known as FedEx Field and Jack Kent Cooke Stadium before that. The current lease is through 2027, which in theory would be extended until the new stadium is built in D.C.

Why is the team moving to D.C.?

Northwest Stadium, opened in 1997, is out of date by modern NFL standards and lacks surrounding amenities that fans crave on game days, and the Commanders have been looking for a solution for years. The stadium is generally considered among the worst in the NFL.

The D.C. deal made both financial and emotional sense for the NFL team — new ownership returning the team to its former home in a brand-new facility along the Anacostia River waterfront.

In a boisterous news conference on Monday, D.C. and team officials touted the deal as historic.

“We want to bring the Commanders home with a new RFK that our fans will love, our opponents will fear — it’ll be loud — we want to make it about football, but also about the city and the community. I want to host the biggest and best events in the world,” Commanders owner Josh Harris said.

The new stadium, with mostly private money but some public money, is envisioned to have a clear roof and be surrounded by mixed-use development.

Mayor Bowser called the deal “a win-win-win for the city, the team, the fans.”

Did Maryland try to keep the Commanders in Prince George’s?

Both Moore, a Democrat, and former Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, negotiated to keep the Commanders in Prince George’s County, ultimately without success.

During Hogan’s tenure, the team was owned by Dan Snyder, who was exceedingly unpopular with fans. At one point, there was a controversial deal in the works for the federal government to give its Oxon Cove Park in Prince George’s to the state for a potential stadium site, in exchange for a plot of state land in Western Maryland. That deal fizzled in early 2019.

At that time, the other main contender to land the team was Virginia, and the district was not in play.

Hogan later worked with lawmakers and county officials on a plan called the “Blue Line Corridor” to spend $400 million in state bond money on projects stretching from Capitol Heights near the D.C. border out to Largo and the stadium area — an incentive for the Commanders to stay, but also a benefit to the community whether the football team stayed or left.

“We’re investing in the long-term future of these communities. We’re making Prince George’s County a hub for business, entertainment, culture, recreation and education,” Hogan, who grew up in Prince George’s, said in 2022.

The first of the Blue Line Corridor projects, a civic plaza outside the county’s Wayne K. Curry Administration Building, broke ground earlier this month. Other proposals include a library and cultural center, a market hall, a youth sports field house, public art installations and signage and streetscape improvements.

U.S. Sen. Angela Alsobrooks, a Democrat, was the Prince George’s county executive at the time, and said in a statement that she “worked diligently” to land the state money for the Blue Line Corridor.

“I did this to revitalize the area, whether the Commanders stayed or decided to go, and I know this area will continue to transform before our eyes with housing, retail, and so much more,” she said.

Early in the tenure of the current governor, Snyder sold the Commanders to the group led by Harris. Soon D.C. entered the picture as Bowser wrested control of the RFK site from Congress late in 2024.

The Moore administration said it put together “a very competitive offer” to keep the Commanders, but officials have not released details of the proposal.

Beyond the Blue Line Corridor projects, state lawmakers never signed off on any special spending or financial incentives for the Commanders to remain at the privately owned stadium, as they have for the Baltimore-based Ravens and Major League Baseball’s Orioles.

Moore and Maryland lawmakers also spent the recently concluded legislative session closing a $3.3 billion budget shortfall — including $1.6 billion in new taxes — making an incentive package to keep the Commanders in Prince George’s County more difficult.

What’s supposed to happen to Northwest Stadium?

Aware that the odds may not go in Maryland’s favor, Moore and his team worked to leverage commitments to Prince George’s from Harris in the event that he moved the team.

“They were clear from the first time that they purchased the team for over $6 billion that they wanted to return the team to its spiritual home of Washington, D.C.,” Moore told reporters Monday. “So we understand that. But we also knew that in the early conversations with the new ownership group of the Washington Commanders that you were not just going to leave Maryland with an empty stadium.”

The promises were put on paper with a memorandum of understanding signed in December, including:

• The team must pay full costs to demolish the stadium and clear the site, with work required to begin within 90 days from the final home game.
• The team must replace the stadium with “a vibrant mixed-use development, which may include coordinated residential, retail, and commercial uses, a sports and fitness complex, and other allowable uses.”
• The team must collaborate with local and state officials on the redevelopment, work with community residents and “work in good faith” to provide “football-related activities” at the new development, such as training camps, flag football or open practice.

State Del. Jazz Lewis, a Prince George’s County Democrat who grew up near the current stadium, said he, the local community and state officials will work to create a “compelling, transformative plan” for the site that will be ready to get underway as soon as the Commanders play their first game in Washington.

Will the Commanders follow through on their promises?

The MOU is not legally binding, but it represents a public commitment from the Commanders, who would face blowback if they failed to follow through. The MOU was signed by Harris, Moore and Tara H. Jackson, the acting county executive of Prince George’s County.

A Commanders team spokesman said Monday: “The MOU still stands. The team will tear down the stadium at its own cost and will work with both the state and the county on a plan forward that transforms Landover and Prince George’s County.”

Harris, during the press conference, thanked Moore for believing in “what we can achieve together at the current stadium site”

Moore said he has “very real confidence” that the team will abide by the terms of the MOU. He also is hopeful that a new development will bring more economic activity to the Landover area than the football stadium did.

“It’s something that is 200 acres that is used eight times a year for a few hours during that time period, and it’s something that does not have all the other assets that people in the neighborhood are currently benefiting from. … What we’re going to see in the future, it will be better,” Moore said.

Officials in Annapolis figured the team would at least explore moving back to D.C. — Lewis said he “saw it coming” — which was why the state worked to secure a commitment from the Commanders about the future of the site.

“I always started this conversation from the standpoint that we need to invest in the people here, the infrastructure here, regardless if they stay or not,” Lewis said.

Jackson said the Northwest Stadium site redevelopment, coupled with the Blue Line Corridor investments, represents “an extraordinary opportunity” for the county.

“Anchored by the growing Blue Line Corridor, this project is about more than football,” Jackson said in a statement. “It’s about jobs, transit-oriented development, cultural vibrancy and creating the kinds of amenities our residents have long deserved.”

Others are not so certain.

“I’ll believe it when I see it,” Prince George’s County Councilmember Jolene Ivey said of the plans to tear down the stadium. “I’ve heard promises like that before from the previous owner, so we’ll have to see if the Commanders are going to be true to their word.”