Commanders having ‘smallest’ stadium would be smart after FedEx Field nightmare

The Washington Commanders‘ lease at FedEx Field expires in 2027 and the franchise’s braintrust is smartly getting ahead of the game in laying the groundwork for a new stadium. Last week, the team made a $100 million bid for land in Virginia for what could be a possible site for its next stadium.

That plan has since hit a few bumps in the road, as Virginia state senator Chap Petersen has no intention of supporting Washington’s plan to relocate to the Commonwealth. The Virginia legislature was set to vote on a bill that would give the team $300 million toward a new stadium. That’s now been delayed until next week, but Petersen’s remarks don’t bode well for it passing.

While that gets sorted, the Commanders are still obliged to map out plans for their eventual new home and the details have started trickling out.

Per Michael Phillips of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the proposed new stadium would seat 55,000 fans, making it the smallest in the NFL. After owning one of the league’s worst attendance rates at FedEx Field over the last several years, the reported plan to build an arena smaller than RFK is a great move.

The Commanders having the NFL’s smallest stadium would be smart given how big of a disaster FedEx Field has been.

Washington once had the largest seating capacity in the NFL. From 2004-2010, FedEx Field composed of 91,000 seats. Due to a lack of on-field success and off-field controversy spearheaded by owner Dan Snyder and former president Bruce Allen, the team struggled attracting fans to games and was forced into reducing the stadium’s number of seats multiple times over the years.

Creating a strong environment for the team on Sunday’s should trump the idea of hosting large-scale events like the Super Bowl. A 55,000-seat stadium would not only benefit the players, but the franchise could still make a profit by hosting smaller events throughout the NFL calendar. Leave the Super Bowl to billion-dollar projects that can actually fill 90,000 or so fans.

Another positive? A smaller stadium would make for a more electric and intimate atmosphere. Attracting more Washington fans would seemingly reduce the likelihood of being overrun by rival fans. That’s arguably been the biggest black eye on FedEx Field in recent years, right alongside the stadium’s malfunctions, which surfaced in droves this past season.

Nothing is finalized, obviously, but Commanders president Jason Wright acknowledged in a recent interview with the Virginia Mercury that the franchise is “more likely to build the smallest venue in the NFL than the largest.”

We can’t speak for everyone, but we’d love to see this proposition come to fruition. Pack the stadium to the brim every Sunday. It would improve Washington’s reputation around the NFL, unite fans and give the players more motivation.

Even better? The Commanders’ economic impact analysis projects the project to support 2,246 jobs by 2033. Seriously, who says no?