Washington, D.C., eyes Metro expansion

Moving thousands of football fans into a new NFL stadium in Washington D.C. is sparking the stakeholders to explore options for expanding access to public transportation via a reported $2 million study commissioned by the city and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.

"Instead of tens of thousands of parking spots for the eight home games per year, we will have the most transit-friendly NFL stadium in the country," said D.C. Councilmember Charles Allen, who heads up the Council's Transportation Committee.

The RFK site is already served by the Stadium-Armory Metrorail station, but Allen has set a goal of moving 30,0000 people to the new stadium by train, which would require an expansion. The NFL's Washington Commanders are currently playing at Northwest Stadium in Prince George's County, Maryland.

RFK stadium is being demolished and the surrounding 180-acre site is being master planned for a mixed-used development that will include hospitality, retail and housing. The project is expected to draw 12,000 new residents to the Hill East neighborhood.

The D.C. City Council has already approved $20 million a year for the next 30 years from stadium revenue to fund transit improvements and Allen has floated the idea borrowing against the money to build the needed infrastructure.

WMATA's financial health is buoyed by increased ridership levels and boosted subsidies from the city, Virginia, and Maryland but it still faces a funding gap in 2026.

The authority successfully went to market in July 2024 with a $625 million offering to fund capital costs.

The $3.7 billion stadium project that will return the Commanders to inside the city limits was announced in April and is looking for at least $500 million in public money.

The city remains in a dispute with the federal government over a $1.1 billion dollar budget reduction caused by Congress following the passage of the last continuing resolution. A version of the current CR that's stalled in the government shutdown would restore the money.

The city and the surrounding areas in Maryland and Virginia are all taking financial hits from the Trump administrations moves to reduce the size for the federal workforce.

In August President Trump announced he was going ask Congress for $2 billion in funding to beautify Washington D.C. In the same month he used his authority to identify a 30-day crime emergency and dispatched thousands of National Guard troops to the capital.

The troops remain on patrol at an estimated cost of $1 million a day.

Virginia has lost an estimated 11,200 federal jobs due to federal downsizing and Maryland absorbed a credit downgrade from Moody's Ratings in May to Aa1 from Aaa that was also pinned on job loss.