Redskins back to RFK Stadium plan could be put on pause

WASHINGTON (FOX 5 DC) -- A return of the Washington Redskins to RFK Stadium could be put on pause. A provision of a budget bill the DC Council will take up Tuesday night would prohibit Events DC from spending money over the next to years to purchase the campus from the federal government.

RFK Stadium sits on more than 190 acres. On Tuesday, Mayor Muriel Bowser was clear. She told FOX 5 the space is too valuable to let sit dormant.

"We're not going to be sidetracked by any silly maneuvers by the council chairman," said Bowser.

Bowser addressed the latest issues surrounding the land on which RFK Stadium sits at a press conference Tuesday afternoon. She says she would like to see the Redskins return to the District -- where their move could play in a new stadium on the site -- but that move appears to be meeting resistance. The mayor says she's prepared to fight.

"I take very seriously my job to make sure I'm reclaiming land for D.C. residents," said Bowser.

Part of that job, Bowser says, will be her efforts to reclaim the land that sits on the banks of the Anacostia River and at a fair market price for the District.

"We're talking about an affordable housing crisis in our city. We have an opportunity where we, residents of the District of Columbia, we decide the future of over a 100 acres. And we would pass that up? That would be me shirking my duties as mayor - and I will never do that," said Bowser.

Those who live in the area worry about what change could look like.

"You would hope that the Mayor stick with her word of keeping all that money and excitement in the community," one person told FOX 5.

Whatever changes are made with the stadium, only a couple of blocks away, the repercussions will be felt throughout the city.