Bring the Redskins home

OPINION:

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

The D.C. government is working on plans to get rid of the biggest elephant under the city’s redevelopment tent and return the Washington Redskins to the nation’s capital.

Maryland officials are trying to keep the Redskins in Prince George’s County, where the lease on FedEx Field expires in 2027.

Not to be outdone, authorities in Virginia, already home to the team’s headquarters and practice facility in Ashburn and its training camp in Richmond, are hoping owner Dan Snyder moves his team lock, stock and barrel to the commonwealth.

There have been two main distractions about the possibilities since Mayor Muriel Bowser and Mr. Snyder broke bread Wednesday at the Redskins’ Welcome Home Luncheon.

One is money, of course. Every sports project deserves down-in-the-dirt discussions about the dollars and sense of a new sports arena — and D.C. is no different, now that public dollars have been spent on building a new NBA/WNBA facility, a new soccer stadium and Nationals Park for Major League Baseball.

Money, honey, is also on the minds of folks because, on Wednesday, prior to the Snyder-Bowser luncheon cordialities, Miss Bowser broke ground on new soccer and other recreational amenities in one of the parking lots at RFK Stadium, the Redskins’ old stomping grounds.

Construction is scheduled to begin in September, and a welcome mat is to be rolled out in spring. In other words, it’s a fast-track project.

The other distraction about a possible Redskins return is the team’s name. Some view it as a slur. Mr. Snyder has long been on record as rejecting a name change, which is his prerogative. It’s his team.

To Miss Bowser’s credit as a shoo-in to win re-election in November, she used the luncheon forum to tell Mr. Snyder “We want you to be home. Bring it home.”

This, though, being the age of the #MeToo movement, Miss Bowser must remain leery of why the Redskins had to leave District in the first place — and that was because the last female D.C. mayor, Sharon Pratt, considered then-owner Jack Kent Cooke to be a “billionaire bully.”

The past is the past, and it’s time to push forward.

If Mr. Snyder wants the Redskins to come back, the city should ask him what he wants and needs, seek advice of the mayor’s minions and the D.C. Council, and ensure that D.C. taxpayers are as plugged in as other stakeholders.

And you know what else she and Mr. Snyder must do? Beat Dallas — on and off the field.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is making a financial killing, and every sports review of Dallas’ home AT&T Stadium — which is really not in Dallas but in Arlington, Texas — gave it rave reviews.

The mayor and the council members need to ride the ’Skins wave all the way, paying closest attention to the dollars and cents as they move forward.

As older and wiser folks would say, “Just claim it.”

• Deborah Simmons can be contacted at dsimmons@washingtontimes.com.