Brooke Pinto, Councilmember for DC, joins G&D to discuss why RFK Stadium 2.0 would be a GREAT deal for the District.
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00:00Josh Harris, as it was announced this week, that the commanders in D.C. have a deal in place to move back to the nation's capital once and for all, coming home to RFK 2.0.
00:15Now, they just need some votes, and they need the D.C. City Council to help them do it, and we're sitting in Ward 2 as we get ready at Capital One Arena for a massive Caps game tonight.
00:25If they win, they clinch, and they move on. So who better to talk to than the D.C. City Council member from Ward 2 representing this ward, Brooke Pinto, who is with us.
00:36Thank you so much for the time and for coming and joining us in person. We really appreciate it.
00:41Absolutely. My pleasure to be here with you, and I'm so happy we're doing this in Capital One Arena. I can't wait to cheer on the Caps tonight at their playoffs.
00:47You said you're going to the game. They get a win. They move on for the first time since 2018 when they won the Cup.
00:52So you'll be rocking the red this evening. Do you get to a lot of games here?
00:56I do. And, you know, it's really never been a better time to be a sports fan in the District of Columbia.
01:00So we're so proud of our teams and how they've been just really blowing out all of their records.
01:07I was here to celebrate Ovechkin's goal score record a few weeks ago, and it's really emblematic of how much pride there is for sports and for this type of success in our city.
01:17Oh, it's for sure. It's an exciting time. So let me ask you this about the stadium deal, okay?
01:21What are people getting wrong when they're sharing their misgivings or issues they may have or things that are coming up?
01:29And you guys are going to hash this out, as you should, as a council.
01:32What are people saying that you've heard that you go, you know what, that's not right?
01:35Sure. So let me zoom out for your listeners to understand how this process kind of works.
01:40So it's very common for the mayor, who's our executive in D.C., to execute agreements, to have her deals team negotiate, be the principal negotiator with the team on what this type of deal will look like.
01:53That deal is now part of the mayor's fiscal year 2026 budget proposal, which will be sent to the council, and then we analyze it.
02:02We look at all the terms of the deal.
02:04We make sure it's a fair deal for the district, that our priorities are being accommodated, and then we pass it, hopefully, as part of the budget.
02:12This process did not start on Monday, when Mayor Bowser made this amazing announcement with Josh Harris and Robert Dell.
02:21I was so thrilled to be in the room, and you could really feel the energy.
02:25But this has been ongoing conversations for years and years, where we've had the opportunity to hear from the community about what they want to see with housing, retail, access to green space for our kids and families.
02:35All of that is incorporated in this deal, conversations that I've had with the team about the importance to me of including job access to our returning citizens.
02:45This offering is going to have 2,000 job opportunities.
02:48So a lot of that input has been incorporated, and so I'm thrilled about the deal, and now it continues through the legislative process, which will be finished with mid-July.
02:58Yeah, and those 2,000 jobs are permanent, 16,000 total when you account for, obviously, the construction jobs, right, 14,000 of those.
03:04So it's interesting to hear you say that, because we had the chairman, Phil Mendelsohn, on a couple days ago, and his number one gripe, he didn't come out and say this, although he kind of did, was it just seemed like he was upset that he wasn't included more, and that was like his whole annoyance in all of this.
03:19So your point is it's actually semi-common that he or you guys wouldn't be that included until this point.
03:25Right.
03:25The mayor executes deals and is the initial proposer of the budget.
03:30That's how the budget process works every year.
03:32This has been a topic of interest to me, so I have involved myself, but it's very common that the mayor is the principal negotiator for these things, and then we take a look at the deeper details and make sure that every council member has an opportunity to review it thoroughly.
03:47I've reviewed the term sheet very thoroughly, and we'll be having hearings on it, hearing from the public, and hopefully get this deal accomplished.
03:54So, Council Member, and again, Grant has mentioned this, we spoke to Phil Mendelsohn, we spoke to Charles Allen, both very graciously with their time and forthcoming with their views on it, and their objection centers around the upfront cost to the taxpayer and to the city, and then will we be making that return on investment?
04:13What would you say to those that are skeptical about that or critical, a.k.a. people who may be on the other side right now?
04:21This site of 180 acres of land has been sitting vacant for decades.
04:27This is the surest and fastest way to make productive use in an extremely exciting way, but also a successful way for our city.
04:37To bring the commanders home, we're thrilled to do so, but also to build 6,000 units of housing, a third of which will be affordable.
04:44To build hotels, retail, we're going to have a sports complex for our kids, so people don't have to take their families and their kids to play an hour or two away, as I speak to families about all the time.
04:54So there's so many community benefits as part of this deal that is an extremely important investment for the city that residents have been calling for.
05:02This has been sitting vacant.
05:04I have not seen another offer on the table or another deal on the table that would be a better use of this land.
05:10And so I think it's time that we move forward with the single largest private investment in our city's history.
05:16What about those that are holding out for that golden goose, that mythical deal, supposedly, that is coming?
05:22I don't know where from or who from or et cetera, but I think one of your colleagues, Councilmember Nadeau, in her statement that she issued was saying we could do something better.
05:33I'd love to hear what, when, why, where, and how, but what would you say to those folks?
05:37I would say it's been 35 years and it hasn't come.
05:39This is the best deal that has ever come to us.
05:42This is a good deal for district residents, for visitors, not just sports fans, although it is fantastically exciting for that.
05:47But it accomplishes so many of our goals.
05:51Look, one or two council members have said that they don't support this deal.
05:56You know, I think the vast majority of us are really excited.
05:59We understand how important this is going to be for our city, how galvanizing it will be for our city spirit to accept our residents and visitors from around the country and world to come to this site.
06:11There's no other stadium in the country where you can look out and see the water, see the national monument, and really be part of the history of RFK and the nation's capital.
06:21So, and I mean this when I say that I enjoyed our conversations with Alan and with Mendelsohn, but neither of them were able to answer this question.
06:28And it sounds like you're saying what I'm saying, which is, I have not heard a better alternative to generate growth, jobs, and tax revenue at that site.
06:36And if they have one, I'm all ears.
06:38But there isn't one.
06:39And I'm still waiting.
06:41And I guess if you have a thought on that, like, let me know.
06:45But what else are you going to do that generates more in those three capacities?
06:49I share your view.
06:50I have not heard a better alternative.
06:52But the last several years, what I have heard is when I've spoken to communities about this all across the city, I've said, what if we could build a stadium but also build housing and retail and hotels and green space?
07:04And you know what so many people said to me?
07:05That would be ideal, but that's not possible.
07:08They'll never make that happen.
07:10It's happening.
07:11It's all in the term sheet.
07:12This is what people have been calling for.
07:14And so this idea that we're going to, you know, turn our back on the opportunity for the largest economic development opportunity in our history is short-sighted and I don't think is where we should be headed.
07:26Award 2 Councilmember Brooke Pinto with us here on Grant and Danny on 106.7 The Fan.
07:30So I have my own little back of the napkin mat here.
07:33So far, I'm thinking we have four yeses.
07:35I've got you on that list.
07:37I don't know anyone other than McDuffie, but you, Felder, Bonds, and McDuffie were all at the event.
07:42Do you know that all of them would say yes or you don't want to speak for them?
07:46I don't know, but they were all at the event.
07:48So I got those four yeses.
07:49I've got two noes, Nodo, I'm calling.
07:52I don't know her name, but I'm saying Nodo.
07:54Nodo, I think.
07:55And then Alan, our noes.
07:57And then we have six maybes that we're still waiting on.
08:00We've been told by Mendelsohn there's not enough support.
08:02There's not seven yeses.
08:03Do you agree with that?
08:04No, I don't.
08:06A couple of things on this.
08:07So this is not a new bill or new law that we need to have seven votes to pass.
08:13This is part of the mayor's budget proposal.
08:16So this needs to be referred to the Committee on Business and Economic Development Committee,
08:20which is chaired by Councilmember McDuffie.
08:23All four of those council members who you mentioned, who were at the announcement on Monday,
08:27serve on the business committee.
08:29So we would welcome the opportunity to have public hearings on this deal in the next couple
08:35of weeks, have a roundtable on it, dive into the details, hear from the public, move forward
08:40a committee report that's supportive of this development, and then it would go to the full
08:44council.
08:45Now, because it's part of the budget, if somebody wants to move an amendment to excise this entire
08:51deal and come up with a new proposal, that's in their right.
08:55But technically, they would need seven votes to do that.
08:58Interesting.
08:58So is the number seven that is needed that we keep hearing, that's not accurate then?
09:04It takes seven votes to pass the budget.
09:06And so in theory, if you're voting for the budget, which includes this deal, you would
09:10be supporting the deal?
09:11That's the entire budget.
09:12The deal is just one of the hundreds of elements of the budget.
09:15Exactly.
09:15We've got a $20 billion budget.
09:17So everything in there from our school funding to our police, to our libraries, public services.
09:22So it would be unusual to just vote against one component.
09:25Sorry, Dan.
09:25I want to follow up on that real quick.
09:26Because Alan and I, I had asked him this question.
09:29He said it all kind of comes from the same pot.
09:31My understanding was there's like different areas of the budget where things come from.
09:35And this is like the building part of it.
09:38This isn't pencils for kids.
09:40Is it all kind of from the same funnel?
09:42And best I could tell, it's 7% of your overall budget that we're talking about in terms of the
09:46money you guys would spend on the stadium.
09:49So there are a number of different avenues where our money comes from.
09:53The easiest way to think about it is there's operating costs and there's capital costs.
09:58Operating are things like city services and capital are like our buildings and our schools.
10:02The thing that makes this deal so unique is that part of the public financing component
10:07is preparing the land kind of horizontally to make sure that it is ready to be built upon.
10:13We're not spending public dollars on actually building the stadium.
10:16That's coming from the team.
10:17Um, but it is being re in the, the private investment component is being reinvested into
10:25part of the development for RFK.
10:27Um, we're also going to be using part of the funds generated from sales tax and parking fees
10:33to then pay for the city's portion of the contribution.
10:37So no, I don't think it's accurate to say we're taking from another capital cost because
10:42many of the investments are coming from future generated dollars from this site.
10:47Council member Brooke Pinto with us here on Grant and Danny.
10:51So just want to give you a chance to answer some of these things that critics might say.
10:54Um, sometimes when you hear these economic impact studies and people kind of roll their
10:59eyes because it's, you know, sort of columns being rearranged.
11:02A lot of times you'll see, uh, this could generate a billion dollars.
11:05Well, what's the net profit?
11:07What's the takeaway?
11:08What would you say to some of those folks that are dubious maybe about some of the claims
11:11and the revenue that might be generated by an NFL stadium?
11:15Sure.
11:15So I have looked at study after study.
11:18I've looked at other stadium deals around the country.
11:20Um, the district public financing component of this deal is about 24%.
11:26There are other stadiums, um, like new Orleans that the public financing component is over
11:3160%.
11:31So on a comparative basis, this is actually quite low.
11:35Um, the average is around 50%.
11:37So that's, that's one marker that I look at.
11:40I also look at how much revenue that we're going to generate, which we estimate to be
11:44about $4 billion, um, which comes out to about 20% of our whole budget, which is why
11:50investment in the future of our city is so important.
11:53We cannot continue spending at current levels without investing in our growth and investing
11:58in our future.
11:59And we think about sports in particular, it builds so much enthusiasm.
12:03People visit the city for it.
12:05Just like I did to Philadelphia to go to the NFC, uh, conference championship game.
12:09People will come here for these games.
12:11They'll buy concessions.
12:13They'll pay for parking.
12:15Um, they may go to a restaurant while they're here.
12:17They may stay at a hotel while they're here.
12:19They may visit our free museums and our monuments.
12:23And all of that economic activity is so important, not just for the dollars and cents, which I
12:28do think are there, but it's also important for our city spirit and good news begets good
12:33news.
12:33We'll have more businesses opening and really revitalizing this entire area, which has sat
12:39vacant for 30 years.
12:40You mentioned parking.
12:42That was another sticking point.
12:43It sounded like for a couple of your, of your colleagues.
12:45Um, I didn't think of it this way because we're used to the suburban stadiums with tens
12:49of thousands of parking spots and we go, Oh, only 8,000.
12:52That's, that's not that many for tailgaters.
12:54And Charles Allen said 8,000 is way too many.
12:58That's park has 1200.
12:59I would quibble with that number because there's more surrounding kind of city, but find the
13:03clip of him talking about how he also said that while you guys would own the parking
13:07garages, they would get all the revenue from, and that's what I was going to ask you
13:10about.
13:10So that, that 8,000 number, is that sit right with you?
13:13And then, you know, the, the, the way that he described, uh, where that revenue go from
13:17parking would go to the team.
13:18Just want your reaction to that.
13:19So the parking financing is a little bit complicated and that in several years from now, there
13:25will be parking generated, uh, dollars that do go to the team.
13:29And that's part of how we make sure that the team's contribution is as large as it is now,
13:33because they are also taking a risk on us.
13:36Sure.
13:36Yeah.
13:36We're making this huge investment.
13:38And so that was, as opposed to offering more money at the front end from the city's perspective,
13:43we were able to, uh, be creative in the parking on, on four years from now, uh, in terms of
13:49the number of spots, you know, tailgating is a big part of the fan experience for so many
13:54of our fans.
13:54We want to make sure that people who, uh, want to, or need to drive to and from the
13:59games can, we want to make sure it's much better than the FedEx experience.
14:02If any of you have been out to that field, you know, and you get off the Metro or you,
14:06um, or you drive there and park, you're walking a mile.
14:09Um, and it, it becomes a very onerous process for, for many.
14:13We also want to make sure to note that we have other public access points to this site.
14:19We have Metro, we have bus.
14:20It's in the middle of a wonderful residential community where people will be walking.
14:24And so parking is an important part of the mix.
14:27It has to be included.
14:28Um, that's, that's what we need in any football stadium.
14:31It's certainly something we'll take a look at to see if that's the exact right number
14:35for what they're estimating from their fan base, but it's got to be part of the deal.
14:39So in terms of generating revenue, it would seem to me like an arena like this one, the
14:44number of people here from Virginia tonight, from Maryland tonight, massive, right?
14:49And those people are spending their money here.
14:51Whereas if you guys almost, maybe you would say it wasn't almost, but lost the teams to
14:56Virginia, all that money goes away and all the shoulder restaurants here and there,
15:00everybody pays for that.
15:01And I think about that in the other neighborhood as well with what could be, you know, around
15:05that area.
15:06If you don't do the stadium, let's just say, let's say it doesn't pass and it falls by the
15:11wayside.
15:13How do you get, uh, to, to quote my buddy, Barry's Faluga in the Washington post today,
15:18JP from Maryland in Branton, Virginia.
15:20Who was he talking about?
15:21Yeah, I don't know.
15:21But he said, you know, oh, well, you know, respectfully to those guys, they don't pay it.
15:26So they, they, you know, their opinion doesn't matter.
15:27But I'm not going to DC if I'm not going to the games anymore.
15:31I got good restaurants in Virginia.
15:33I work in DC and I do pay taxes there because we're at the Navy yard, but what do they build
15:39that brings us there?
15:40And without the sports teams, I think the math changes a whole lot from people coming across
15:44the river.
15:45I think that the biggest thing I could say to that is look at what's happened or rather
15:50what has not happened in the last 30 years.
15:52If anyone can point to a developer who said, I want to build all of these things, let us
15:57do it.
15:58I haven't spoken to one.
15:59The stadium is catalytic.
16:01It is an important part of this investment to reactivate this space.
16:04And it's a big draw for the other businesses who are going to open on the other parcels of
16:09land, be it retail, 6,000 units of housing, new hotels.
16:14So all of those businesses will be able to thrive, generating even more tax dollars for
16:18the city.
16:19And I do, I do agree.
16:20We did almost lose the team.
16:21And I take that lesson very seriously to make sure that that never happens again.
16:25The city spirit was totally deflated, even in thinking that we may lose the team.
16:30I was surprised, honestly, how quickly it shifted.
16:34And do you think that whether it was you guys or the mayor, like who screwed up or how did
16:39that happen in your opinion?
16:40And then you guys were able to get them back.
16:42So it doesn't matter now.
16:43But if you think it almost happened, like how close was it?
16:47I think that we cannot take for granted our businesses in the city of any size, our small
16:53businesses that make up so much character of our community and our large businesses that
16:57generate our sports teams and these great fan experiences.
17:01And so I will not be doing that again.
17:05And I think as a city, we have to really take ownership of our responsibility to make sure
17:10that we recognize how important our business success is to the entirety of our city.
17:15One more for me.
17:16I want to give you, just trying to give you a chance to just swat away all the critics
17:19here.
17:19So just trying to think of things they might say.
17:21There's so many neighborhood success stories in DC, whether it's the Wharf or Noma or I don't
17:27know, dozens of places where it's gone from what it was to something now vibrant with
17:32its own kind of, you know, you could walk a mile and be in four totally different-seeming
17:36cities, which is one of the beauties of that.
17:38And that didn't include a stadium.
17:40Wouldn't that be possible if you just raised RFK and something else could go there?
17:45Just again, your chance to respond.
17:47Sure.
17:47So the biggest difference is that RFK is almost 180 acres.
17:52We're not talking about, you know, two acres of land that we can revitalize or 10 acres
17:57of land where we can have some retail.
17:59The other thing I'll say is, yes, there have been some fantastic positive development stories
18:04for other kind of mini markets throughout DC.
18:07But the finances from the developer perspective have not panned out in the way that they hoped
18:14they would, in part because we have to have diversity of uses.
18:18We cannot be overly reliant on one income stream.
18:21And that's what happens when we build only housing or only retail.
18:24So does that mean, so let's say I'm Danny, the developer, I go, I'll build these condos
18:28and I'll build this, that, and the other.
18:30And I'm not getting a return on investment that I could potentially get this way.
18:34Is that what that means?
18:35That's right.
18:36And I think that this is the future of cities across the country is people want a 15-minute
18:40experience.
18:41They want to be able to live close to where they work and they can walk to entertainment,
18:46they can walk to hotel, to restaurant, to retail, they can walk to a green space to play
18:50with their kids.
18:51This is what we're building here on this site that Ward 7 deserves.
18:56Ward 7 deserves this kind of catalytic investment and focus.
18:59As my Ward 7 colleague has pointed out, Wendell Felder, who represents this area, who's very
19:04supportive of the stadium.
19:05He said, look, you got this investment in Ward 2 with the Capital One Arena revitalization.
19:10Why doesn't Ward 7 deserve this investment?
19:13And I think he's absolutely right.
19:14It's time for Ward 7 to have this win and to really make sure we're building up the community
19:18in all ways we can.
19:19What do we know about the folks in D.C. and whether they want it or not?
19:24I did see polling at one point that like 71% wanted this stadium.
19:28And I brought that up to the previous two council members and they said, well, if we asked you
19:32if you wanted a Lamborghini, you'd say yes.
19:34Do you want to pay for the Lamborghini or whatever?
19:35I don't know what the polling was exactly, but I would say it's a pretty popular idea.
19:40But specifically around there, I was talking to someone who's from there the other night
19:43and I was like, what are you thinking?
19:44They're like, I'd love it.
19:46There'd be so many places for me to go shop and eat and do things that I don't have right
19:49now.
19:50But I'm just curious what your thoughts are in that regard.
19:53So, yes, I've seen the poll that I think said 51% of residents support this.
19:57What I know is that for the last several years, this came up in my first election in 2020.
20:01I was asked in a debate if I support the team coming back.
20:05This has been on the mind of district residents for so long.
20:08And here's what I hear.
20:10Will it have enough days of activation if there's only going to be nine home games a year?
20:14Yes.
20:15Part of the term sheet says over 200 days of activation.
20:20Okay.
20:20They say, we don't want to spend public taxpayer dollars on building a stadium.
20:25Don't worry.
20:25It's only the horizontal preparing of the land and the parks.
20:28The team is building the stadium.
20:29Okay.
20:30They say, what about housing?
20:32We're building 6,000 units of housing, including a third of which will be affordable.
20:36They say, we want it to have not touched the fields at RFK.
20:40That's included in the term sheet.
20:42They will be untouched.
20:43So, almost every component that I've heard from the community of saying, we would support
20:47it, but is included in this deal.
20:50And I'm not shy about saying, yes, of course, we're going to go through the legislative process.
20:54We're going to have public hearings.
20:55I want to engage with the public.
20:56I want to continue engaging with the mayor and the team ownership and leadership about
21:00ensuring all these community benefits are maintained.
21:03But I'm very confident to say, this is a great deal for the city.
21:06This is what our city needs right now.
21:08And it's going to pay off, not just in our enthusiasm and our spirit, but in our investments
21:13that we see benefit district residents for decades to come.
21:17And you're pretty confident it gets done.
21:20I think we've got to get this done.
21:22I think this is the single best economic development deal opportunity on the table for our city.
21:28And we can't pass it up.
21:30Brooke Pinto, Ward 2 council member, joining us here on Grant and Danny.
21:35Well, unlike the last couple of days, I found someone on my team.
21:39So, this was probably the easiest interview you'll do in a while.
21:42But we try to present both sides here and ask all the questions that needed to be.
21:46But let's get it done.
21:47Let's get a stadium in D.C.
21:48Let's do it.
21:48All right.
21:49Thank you so much.
21:50Thank you so much.
21:50Council member with us here on Grant and Danny.
21:53We're at Capital One Arena in Ward 2, which is the ward that she represents.