FedEx ships from anywhere in the world besides Landover, Maryland

by Skin Patrol on Jan 12, 2007 11:19 AM EST in News Comment 1 comment

I don't know what to believe. First Marc Fisher at the Post reports that Dan Snyder might return to the RFK site:

[A]lthough no public announcement has been made, Redskins owner Dan Snyder has quietly been meeting with top city officials about building a football stadium in the District, most likely at the RFK Stadium site. Three top D.C. officials say that Snyder had meetings about his stadium project with outgoing D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission Chairman Mark Tuohey and Williams, in the final days of his administration.

The vindictive Times bitch-slaps that idea, pointing out our legal, contractual obligation to stay at FedEx through 2027:

Team general counsel Dave Donovan said the Redskins are legally bound to FedEx Field until 2027 because of agreement between the team, the state of Maryland and Prince George's County, and said the team has expressed no interest in leaving the Landover facility at least until then.

While reading the following, consider Donovan as a Death Row inmate justifying his posh environs in prison:

"We don't want to leave," Donovan said. "We're really happy and don't have any other options because we're bound to the lease. It was written in a way to make sure that we play football there for 30 years."

"We're really happy" is most convincing when unqualified by a total absence of competing alternatives.

Anyways, regardless of how you may like FedEx (and many don't) we're stuck there for the next 2 decades. I say learn to love it, a task made much easier by future fond memories of winning more home games. 3-5 just isn't going to do the trick.

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Leaving FedEx

There must be a laywer somewhere in the midst of Hogs Haven trollers. I believe the Redskins have alternatives to get out of FedEx, and I have read about them for over a year.

There was an article in the Washington Post in the first months of 2006, which I can't find, but I found this one from Sept 2005 that alludes to the idea.

The article I could not find said that Prince George's County may have an interest in the land the stadium sits on, all 300+ acres of it, and that the stadium has been good for the area, but has done all the good it can do. Although there are large new seas of rooftops visible from the second deck of the stadium, the area is vacant 200 days a year and some businesses actually suffer on gamedays because traffic blocks access to to the shops.

The whispered plan would have the Redskins selling the stadium lock stock and barrel to PG County, who would then take bids from developers on the land. The winning developer would take down the stadium and put up a mix of residential and commercial development.

The Redskins in turn would negotiate to have the city demolish RFK and Dan Snyder would build New RFK with his own money.

This makes sense in Dannyland for a couple of reasons:

PG County may have an ironclad contract with the Redskins, but if Jack Johnson and the PG County Council think they can get more money selling the development rights to the parcel than they would spend to buy it, and the development builds on the suburban feel of the area around the stadium, they'll tear up the contract. PG County does not need the Redskins like they did 10 years ago.
Jack Kent Cooke Stadium was not built by Dan Snyder, but rather by some other guy. Danny insists that all his conquests are virginal and the notion that he has to accept sloppy seconds from JKC every gameday no doubt sickens him.
Not only would lifelong paste-eater and Redskins fan Dan Snyder love to build his own stadium and erase one more part of the guy before, but he along with the rest of us would very much love a return to an RFK-inspired stadium on the site of the Redskins greatest triumphs.

JKC only moved the team to Raljon (the location of the stadium, named after JKCs' two sons, sitting between Landover and Largo that PG County agreed to rename and give it's own zip code in the negotiations -- after JKC died, Dan Snyder reliquished his hold on Raljon and it reverted to Landover) because first Mayor Marion Barry, then Mayor Sharon Pratt Dixon (later Kelly), would not act fast enough for the aging owner to get a deal done to tear down RFK and rebuild on the spot.

The District would lose a municipal stadium (RFK), but they are gaining one (the Nationals stadium is city-owned). They would likely tolerate losing ownership of that parcel in exchange for bringing the Redskins and their tax revenues back into the city.

=====The Curly R: Blogging the Redskins=====

by thatguyben on Jan 12, 2007 4:01 PM EST reply actions 0 recs