D.C. mayor 'focused' on Commanders stadium deal despite Trump threats. - ESPN

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser remains confident that the Commanders will return to the city, but steered clear of President Donald Trump's threats to scuttle a stadium deal if the team does not return to their former name.

The deal for the Commanders to return to the city has reached a precarious point, still needing the D.C. Council to approve the deal. The Council will hold hearings on the topic on July 29 and 30, but there is not yet a vote scheduled. It's possible they vote during while on recess within the next several weeks, one source said.

But the President threw a big curve into matters Sunday when he posted on social media about his desire for the Commanders to return to their former name as a stipulation for building a new stadium on federal land in the district. Congress has leased the land to the city for the next 99 years.

«This is what I believe,» Bowser told ESPN late Monday afternoon during an interview in her office. «I've had the opportunity to speak on a couple of different occasions with the President about this site and about our team. And I can say this without equivocation, he is a Jayden Daniels fan and he said himself and the presser we were at, that this is probably the best site of any site he's seen for a stadium. I have to think that that's what I've heard him say and that's what we'll stick with.»

The Commanders and city officials held a press conference on April 28th to announce their $3.7 billion deal. The team is contributing $2.7 billion. The city plans to also build retail shops, housing and a sports complex on the 174-acre property. The organization moved from the RFK site, their home from 1961-96, to Landover, Md., at the start of the 1997 season.

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