DC Council chairman optimistic about stadium deal — but hurdles remain

The chairman of the D C Council revealed he believes the Council will approve the deal to bring the Washington Commanders back to D C but it s going to take longer than the association and the mayor have agreed to After months of delays Mayor Muriel Bowser sent her budget to the Council It includes funding for the stadium evolution and her supplemental budget which includes million in cuts imposed by Congress Since the announcement that Bowser and Commanders owner Josh Harris reached a deal to bring the crew back to D C the big question has been Will the D C Council approve the deal to spend more than billion of D C taxpayer money On Thursday Council Chairman Phil Mendelson who has opposed masses funding for the stadium revealed a stadium deal will likely be approved Let me be clear I think that we I think that ultimately the Council will agree with the stadium But I think that we can make the deal better he explained It s what the Council has done with every stadium proposal in the past But this all takes time We don t even have the documents concerning the stadium Mendelson warned there are still various obstacles with the first being timing The deal signed by the mayor and the association calls for Council approval by July or the Commanders can pull out Mendelson announced he doesn t see a way the Council can approve the Commanders deal and the budgets until late July or early August I think the July deadline which was negotiated without any collaboration or discussion with the Council is going to be very complex he revealed The members met the last day to discuss what the budget schedule would look like and that s going to be demanding Mendelson also expressed concerns about the financial impact of the deal for taxpayers but he is optimistic those can be worked out I have discovered the Commanders to be very cooperative and they want to get this deal done and we want to get this deal done Mendelson declared The Commanders deal is far from the biggest issue facing D C residents in the budgets just submitted by the mayor Both budgets will include hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts including about million in cuts imposed by Congress that have to be made before October RFK Stadium May Parking garages price tag among issues DC stadium opponents voice at forum Washington Commanders Apr Digging into the Commanders stadium deal What to know about seat licenses DC Council votes Washington Commanders Apr FAQ Inside the B plan for a Commanders stadium in DC and the pushback Mendelson has a sober warning to D C residents about what those cuts will mean I think they should be bracing for bad news but I don t know exactly what that looks like And when I say bad news that there will be system reductions There ll be contracts frozen and possibly particular furloughs The Council plans to hold citizens hearings on both the stadium deal and the budget cuts in coming weeks If the District misses that July deadline to get the Commanders deal approved the company and the District could agree to extend that deadline or the unit could opt to restart negotiations with Maryland or Virginia