Chairman Grijalva on RFK Site: “It's hard to want to help an owner who had to be dragged kicking & screaming.."

Just because of a now official pending name change, as expected, you're unlikely to be able to go home again.

With the Washington Football Club making it official that their current moniker will be retired once the new name has gone through the legal hoops that owner Daniel Snyder has to jump through, one can now officially wonder, “What about the RFK site?”

It has been reported over the past couple of weeks that the name change is a good first step in Congress per Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) and that the ship may have sailed with the D.C. city council.

I reached out to the Chairman of the House Natural Resources (HNR) Committee Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) if he would approve of the federal land to be used for a new stadium. His response:

“It’s hard to want to help an owner who had to be dragged kicking and screaming into dropping his plainly racist branding. That said, I would like to see the RFK site put to new and beneficial use. Any proposal to do that will have to protect the local environment and the interests of the taxpayers who own the site.”

His office also referred me to the press release that they sent out this morning.

In order for D.C. to use the federal land that RFK Stadium currently sits on, they need Congressional approval, because it is federal land. Congressman Grijalva, because he is the Chairman of the committee that oversees such decisions, can hold up any legislation that comes before him and decides what does and does not get voted on. 

No matter what the D.C. city council or mayor does as we have seen in the past.

Bottom line, it sounds like the city will have to present a robust package that is all inclusive in their bid to get the federal government to sign over the land. And that might not include a new stadium.

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Alan Lepore joins our Washington NFL coverage while still doing outstanding work as an editor/writer at FullPressCoverage.com or @FPC_Redskins. You can follow him on Twitter @AlanLepore or on instagram @leporealan. Alan is a Villanova University MPA Nonprofit Management candidate and is a fundraising/development professional.