D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser happy to see Redskins name change but hurdles remain for RFK

Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser sounded encouraged about the Redskins review of their team name but did not think that just changing the name would immediately deliver the team a new stadium.

"I am happy to see the team and the league moving in a direction to change the name," Bowser said Monday on a call with reporters.

"I think the team called Washington anything should be playing in Washington."

For a few years Bowser publicly courted the Redskins to return to RFK Stadium, the site where the team found their greatest years of success on the banks of the Anacostia River in Washington D.C. In the late 1990s the Redskins moved out of D.C. into Maryland, and for many fans, nothing has been the same. At various points it looked like Redskins owner Dan Snyder and Bowser were making real progress towards a new stadium, but bureaucratic red tape always popped up, particularly because the RFK site sits on federal land that the city doesn't control.

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Then more recently Bowser stopped playing as nice with the Redskins and said the team needed to change its name. Now it appears they will, but still the D.C. mayor doesn't sound too optimistic about that prospect.

"I would hardly say that the name is the only issue."

Bowser also brought up the news that 40 percent of the Redskins is up for sale, a story reported by Pro Football Talk and The Washington Post on Sunday. Snyder has three partners that account for nearly half of the organization's ownership, and according to the reports, all three partners want out.

To Bowser, that's a chance to expand the ownership group.

"I actually think this would be a great opportunity for the team and the league to look for more diversity in ownership," the mayor said.

The Redskins current lease at FedEx Field in Landover expires in 2027, and the RFK site sits vacant and largely unused.

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