KOJO NNAMDIWelcome back. Later in the broadcast, we'll discuss the role of quarterbacks in the NFL and on the region's teams. But for now, a lot of the local conversation over football has centered on the Washington Redskins stadium. The lease for FedEx Field where the team has played for 22 years will end in 2027 and DC, Maryland and Virginia have all jockeyed to host the team at a new stadium. Here to discuss regional leaders' plans is Ally Schweitzer. She's a reporter for WAMU 88.5, covering business and development. Good to see you, Ally.

ALLY SCHWEITZERGood to see you, as always.

NNAMDIWe'll get into the deals local leaders are trying to make, but before we dive in, what's so bad about FedEx Field?

SCHWEITZER(laugh) That's a really good question. So, people have been complaining about FedEx Field, particularly because it's so expensive. It's really expensive to park there, tickets are really expensive. It's kind of in the middle of nowhere. There not really much to do around the stadium. And Dan Snyder himself, you know, the owner of the Redskins, he really wants a glitzier stadium that is a little bit more in line with some of the newer stadiums that have been built in other parts of the country and have more bells and whistles.

SCHWEITZERBut really, I actually think that peoples' main -- fans' main problem with FedEx Field is the team and, well, specifically, the team's management, with Dan Snyder and with Bruce Allen. It's not really about the stadium. I think people would probably be willing to buy those expensive season tickets if the Skins were winning more games.

NNAMDIAlly, the spending bill that triggered the federal shutdown is being held up for far more complicated reasons than a regional football stadium. But remind us of the play that DC made in December to host the stadium, and how national politics became involved.

SCHWEITZERSo, great question, but first, some background. You know, RFK sits on federal land. DC is leasing the land from the Department of the Interior through 2038. And that lease requires the city to maintain that RFK land as a recreation site. So, that precludes any commercial development there. So, in December the Post reported that both Mayor Bowser and Dan Snyder were working with congressional Republicans and working with Trump administration officials on a provision in a federal spending bill that would extend the city's lease at least 99 years at RFK and open it up to commercial development.

SCHWEITZERThis is something that has been a priority for the Bowser administration for a while, though. We know that in 2017 Bowser had sent a letter to President Trump asking for either a transfer of RFK into city hands or an extension on the lease. Obviously, no funding bill passed, and the government shut down, as a result. And when news broke about Bowser and Snyder's maneuvering with Republicans, Bowser caught flack from constituents for working with Republicans and trying to essentially backdoor a deal -- despite opposition from local residents -- to a Redskin stadium at the RFK site.

NNAMDIAnd the incoming Democratic majority in the House of Representative have leaders on the Appropriations Committee, one of whom...

SCHWEITZERThat's right.

NNAMDI...one of whom (laugh) is co-chair of the Native American caucus who said...

SCHWEITZERThere you go.

NNAMDI...you really think that we should be giving federal land to build a stadium for a team named a racial slur?

SCHWEITZERYup.

NNAMDISo, there's obviously going to be more obstacles there. And, as you said, Mayor Bowser might want to bring the team home, so to speak. But interest among local officials are split. Where are DC residents and councilmembers lining up on the issue?

SCHWEITZERThis is where it gets really contentious. I mean, there's resistance among residents of Hill East, where RFK is, in particular, to turn over the stadium to Dan Snyder and the Redskins. People are -- you know, they're worried about the usual sort of development issues, noise, litter, traffic, parking. They're concerned that the stadium would only get used for a few home games a year, and the rest of the year, sit empty. And a lot of folks want to see that space given over to more, you know, community-oriented development.

SCHWEITZERIt's worth mentioning, too, that some of the RFK site, the campus there, has already been designated for athletic fields and sort of more community purposes. But Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen has been a voice for neighbors who oppose the stadium idea. He put out a petition in December opposing a Redskins stadium at RFK, and it got something like close to 4,000 signatures.

NNAMDIDC isn't the only jurisdiction putting out feelers for the new stadium. Maryland Governor Larry Hogan has been working on a land swap with the federal government that recently came to light, to which I suspect leaders in the (laugh) Democratic Congress might respond in the same way. But what's going on there?

SCHWEITZER(laugh) So, this is where you start to see, you know, really, how the NFL team owners really operate when they're trying to build new stadiums. So, while Dan Snyder was talking to DC about putting the Redskins back at RFK, he was also reportedly talking to Larry Hogan about a new Redskins stadium in Maryland. Hogan, of course, wants that. He's onboard, and he wants the stadium to go on federal lane, too, specifically Oxen Cove Park, which is not far from MGM Casino.

SCHWEITZERSo, Hogan told the Post, you know, he's been trying to get Oxen Park transferred from the feds to the state since his early days in office. But all of this, you know, this maneuvering with Snyder was apparently news to officials in Prince Georges County, who also told the Post they didn't know Hogan had singled out Oxen Cove Park for a stadium until they read about it in the newspaper.

NNAMDIAnd where does Virginia fit into all of this? Is there the same level of interest for hosting the team in the Commonwealth?

SCHWEITZERGreat question, because, as you might remember, I mean, former Governor Terry McAuliffe was very bullish on bringing the Redskins to Virginia (laugh). He was not shy about that at all. He was constantly making the pitch that because the players live in Virginia, the team is headquartered in Virginia, Virginians buy a lot of season tickets and a lot of Redskins merchandise, he says, you know, the team -- just get it over with and move here. And Lowden County, near Dulles, is the favored site.

SCHWEITZERBut Governor Northam has been less assertive on this. You know, he scored Amazon, as we know, so maybe he thinks that's enough economic development wins (laugh) for one term. I don't know. He said he -- but, you know, he'd welcome the team to Virginia, but he kind of put the decision on Dan Snyder, saying Dan Snyder, you know, has got to make up his mind about where he wants to go.

NNAMDIThe regions' leaders have been making preliminary moves for a new state-of-the-art stadium, but does the public want it?

SCHWEITZEROh, man. So, this is what I've been looking at, in particular. So, since 2017 there's been this bipartisan effort in Maryland, DC and Virginia to block public incentives for a Redskins stadium, any kind of tax breaks, any kind of infrastructure spending, any public money that would go to the stadium. And it started with Delegate David Moon, who's a progressive that represents the Tacoma Park area in Maryland. So, Moon reached out to Republic Delegate Michael Weber in Virginia and independent David Grosso on the DC Council and they cooked up this interstate compact that would prevent all three jurisdictions from approving any public dollars for a stadium or any stadium-related spending.

SCHWEITZERThe rationale is that stadiums tend to be, you know, pretty big money losers for taxpayers. This is kind of a consensus among economists. They agree, for the most part, that tax dollars shouldn't go to stadiums because the taxpayers don't get the return investment that they need. So, there's real bipartisan interest in preventing tax breaks or any kind of goodies or infrastructure spending on a Redskins stadium. But, of course, governors and mayors love giving money to team owners, because they're worried about the team moving elsewhere.

SCHWEITZERSo, an interstate compact would essentially form a united front against Dan Snyder. And unless he wanted to move the team completely outside the DC area, this legislation would leave him no choice but to pay for his own stadium. I mean, with that said, you know, the odds do kind of seem long for the compact's passage. It's already been introduced in all three houses in the last couple of years, and it's failed every time. I've interviewed all three legislators that are backing this. They think they have a better shot this time, but we shall see.

NNAMDIWe heard from Councilmember Jack Evans, who's chair of the Finance Committee, and he insists that there will not be one penny of District taxpayers' money that will be going into building this stadium. And we got a Facebook comment from Harry, who says: Jack Kent Cooke built the current stadium with his own money. If Snyder wants a new stadium, let him pay for it. We got a Facebook comment from Jim, who says, I can see gifting land to Danno, but as far as paying any money for construction, no way. The current stadium is only 20 years old. Why not just modify it? Has there been any talk of that, at all?

SCHWEITZERYou know, that's kind of the -- that's all in the background of this, too. I mean, you know, you ask -- you look at leaders in Indianapolis who were saying, why are we even talking about a new stadium to begin with? I mean, this thing opened in '97, and it's perfectly useable. You know, why do we need to invest all this time and, potentially, resources in building another stadium to replace this fairly new stadium? What, because it doesn't have some of the glitz and glamour that Dan Snyder wants?

NNAMDIYes (laugh).

SCHWEITZER(laugh) Probably the reason, right? So, you know, there's this whole big question of why are we even having this discussion to begin with.

NNAMDIAs you mentioned earlier, the provision paving the way to host the Redskins in DC was tied to the federal spending bill. How is the shutdown affecting how this is playing out?

SCHWEITZERWell, so Snyder's idea was that this latest spending bill would maybe be his last shot at a deal, and this particular type of deal for a while. Because, you know, he wanted to squeeze it through before Democrats assumed the majority in the House. You might remember, the Obama administration wasn't supportive of a deal on RFK with the Redskins, largely because, you know, officials under the Obama administration said the team's name was racist, so they weren't going to support that. So, now, there's no spending bill and Democrats running the House. So, Snyder might be thinking his dreams are dashed.

SCHWEITZERThat said, you know, the city could still extend its lease at RFK, even without a provision in the spending bill. But, you know, there's still questions about whether or not it could be -- the city could get the right to commercially develop it. That's another question.

NNAMDIAn anonymous comment on our website: I'm not supporting any aid for a stadium owned, controlled by Washington NFL team owner Dan Snyder. We need an independent owner management that only leases the stadium to that team 10, 14 games a year. A new stadium is probably going to get a Super Bowl. No reason for a Washington (laugh) NFL team owner ownership to get any free limelight. And, finally, I mentioned how members -- leaders in Congress, the Democratic-majority Congress are responding. But tell us a little bit more about the controversy over the team. Is that playing a significant role in all of this?

SCHWEITZERI think that's a really big factor. I mean, you have the economic issue, which is, you know, tax incentives or other kinds of taxpayer-funded incentives for stadiums are not a good investment. There's that, which is pretty much a bipartisan -- that's one of these issues that Republicans and Democrats surprisingly often agree on, is that tax incentives for stadiums or other kinds of incentives are not usually a good deal. They're rarely, you know, delivering the return on investment that team owners will say they do.

SCHWEITZER(clears throat) But, you know, the Dan Snyder factor cannot be overlooked in this whole conversation. He doesn't have much of a hand to play with, because the team has been so disappointing for so long. Every day, there's another controversy happening with the Redskins. You go on Twitter and you look and see Redskins fans tweeting about fire Bruce Allen, get rid of Dan Snyder. I mean, this is not a guy who has a lot of fans, and it's been this way for a long time. So, I think that that particular Dan Snyder factor looms very large. I think if the team was doing better and if the fans had a better opinion of him, this would probably be a pretty different conversation.

NNAMDIAlly Schweitzer. She's a reporter for WAMU 88.5, covering business and development. Always a pleasure, Ally.

SCHWEITZERThank you so much.

NNAMDII'm going to take a short break. When we come back, we'll discuss the role of quarterbacks in the NFL and on the region's local team with John Feinstein. His new book is called "Quarterback." I'm Kojo Nnamdi.