Washington’s locked into FedEx Field until 2026, but team president Bruce Allen said Monday that the club is in the “preliminary” process of finding a new home.
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The Redskins are in the early process of finding a site for a new stadium to replace FedEx Field. “Redskins” is a hotly-charged term these days, with members of Congress and many Native-American organizations demanding the team change the name and owner Dan Snyder refusing to budge. U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell stated this spring that the National Park Service wouldn’t grant the District of Columbia a new lease for that objective because she opposes the team’s name.
Allen, speaking before the Redskins held their final practice in training camp, said the discussions have begun because of the timeframe required to have a suitable stadium in place.
Update on stadium talksAs the Redskins continue preliminary plans for a new stadium down the road, Allen reiterated the fact Monday that development for such a large project does not happen overnight. “It’s not going to be a new stadium in the next 48 months, so we don’t have to worry about that”.
The $180 million stadium itself was privately financed, but isn’t as nice as numerous NFL stadiums that have been built since. “We’ll take input from all of them on it, but right now, no, there is not a leading candidate [location-wise]”.
– Allen said a drop in attendance in the team’s third year of training camp in Richmond could be attributed to the novelty wearing off and, he added, “I think it has a little to do with our performance of 4-12 last year”.
– New general manager Scot McCloughan is “doing exactly what we had hoped for, ” Allen said. “We have a lot of work to do and we have three more preseason games to properly evaluate all the players”.
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Washington’s Bruce Allen says the Redskins are not changing names. But it’s very clear what we expect of him.
