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
The National Park Service gave the green light for the demolition in an announcement Thursday
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
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 took a final step inside RFK in December 2022
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
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,
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 passed bipartisan legislation that would give D.C. control of the site