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It’s time: RFK Stadium, simultaneously an endearing vault of decades of sports fan nostalgia and a rusting behemoth on the banks of the Anacostia River, is officially set for demolition.

The National Park Service gave the green light for the demolition in an announcement Thursday, saying that after evaluating the demolition’s impact on the “natural, cultural and human environment,” federal officials determined it was okay to proceed. Officials <a href="https://parkplanning.nps.gov/documentsList.cfm?parkID=463&projectID=117758" target=_blank>said in an April 29 report</a> that demolishing the stadium would have “no significant impact” and that steps would be taken to “avoid and minimize negative effects.”

The demolition has been a long time coming; D.C. officials for years have sought to take control of the vacant stadium and revitalize the 190-acre property — possibly into a new stadium for the Washington Commanders.

In what kicked off a long goodbye for RFK, Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) and a cohort of D.C. luminaries and former Washington pro sports stars <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/12/08/rfk-stadium-demolition-seats/" target=_blank>took a final step inside RFK in December 2022</a> to witness the removal of the last orange seats in the lower bowl. Deconstruction crews ripped out other furniture, fixtures and equipment and hauled away an accumulation of trash, debris and hazardous material, all in preparation for the anticipated demolition.

Now that the demolition is finally coming, D.C. officials said, the city is closer to achieving its vision for a new RFK campus.

“We’re excited that the process is moving forward and taking us one step closer to the District putting the land at RFK to a higher and better use that benefits our residents and communities,” Nina Albert, Bowser’s deputy mayor for planning and economic development, said in a statement.

Bowser has long said that she wants to build a new stadium at the RFK site for the Commanders, whose ownership is searching for a new home in the region, and turn the campus into a tax-revenue-generating mixed-use development complete with housing, retail and restaurants. But the federal government owns the land the stadium sits on, meaning D.C. needs congressional authorization to pursue a big new development on the site.

The city made progress toward clearing that hurdle this year, too, when the U.S. House <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2024/02/28/rfk-stadium-dc-house-passes-bill-redevelop-commanders/" target=_blank>passed bipartisan legislation</a> that would give D.C. control of the site and allow for a broad spectrum of development, including a new stadium and commercial and residential uses. The bill must still pass the Senate, however.

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In a news release, the National Park Service said it would next issue a permit to the District, which owns the actual stadium, to demolish it. Then NPS and the District will sign an agreement to confirm that any future use will follow 1950s-era regulations governing the site.

The demolition process is outlined in the “finding of no significant impact” document — so here is what RFK’s neighbors can expect: Just about everything except the parking lots is expected to go. First, the “steel structure will be deconstructed by lowering members to the ground piece-by-piece,” the document says. “This will be followed by crushing the concrete structure into smaller sections that can be lowered to the ground.” The building materials will be sorted for recycling, and the deconstructed concrete will be “crushed for use as backfill in connection with regrading the site.”

Temporary noise, as well as temporary air emissions, were identified as some of the adverse impacts that will be monitored. “Demolition of the RFK Stadium will require the use of heavy equipment, and tractor trailer and tandem-axle dump trucks coming to the site on average 20 times per day, which will contribute to air emissions.”

A National Park Service spokeswoman said the timeline for demolition is not fully determined yet. Shayne Wells, a spokesman at EventsDC, which manages the stadium, said a few things have to happen first. “We are completing the final phases of testing the stadium concrete to identify demolished stadium concrete that can be re-used as backfill on the RFK site. Once this work is completed, and NPS issues a permit, structural demolition will begin,” he said.

So that the stadium is not totally erased, EventsDC will coordinate with the Park Service to create commemorative signage, produce an oral history and document the stadium’s unique place in D.C. history.

Drake University, BAJMC in magazine journalism; BA in writing

Meagan Flynn covers D.C. government and politics on The Post's Metro team.

Meagan Flynn

RFK Stadium set to be demolished, National Park Service says

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