The District is moving forward with a $524 million revenue bond sale to pay for infrastructure for the Washington Commanders’ planned stadium. The sale is set for Nov. 19, just weeks before the new mayor takes office.
The tax-exempt, fixed-rate Series 2026 bonds will fund infrastructure and capital costs for a new NFL stadium and mixed-use development at the former RFK Memorial Stadium site. The District says the funds will go to horizontal infrastructure, such as site work, not the stadium itself. The Bond Buyer, which analyzes municipal bonds, public finance policy, and market data, reported that this is the first step in a $3.7 billion public-private financing plan.
“We are looking at making really critical decisions, especially as it relates to budget,” Mayor-elect Janeese Lewis George, who won Tuesday’s election, told reporters.
Lewis George will take over from current District Mayor Muriel Bowser (D), who chose not to run for a fourth term.
The sale was planned before the election. Debt service will be funded by a sports facility fee and a gross receipts tax on certain D.C. businesses, not by general city taxes. The bonds carry an Aa2 rating from Moody’s and an AA-minus rating from S&P. Goldman Sachs and Loop Capital Markets are leading the underwriting, and the deal is expected to close the week of Dec. 7.
An Aa2 bond rating is Moody’s third-highest long-term credit rating, indicating high quality and very low credit risk. An AA-minus rating indicates the bond is high-quality, low-risk, and investment-grade, but at the lower end of the AA category.
Although a dedicated fee backs the bonds, Bond Buyer analyst Jeff Lipton said they still count toward D.C.’s 12% legal debt limit, bringing the District closer to capacity. Bond Buyer also reports that the city faces a projected $680 million budget gap for fiscal 2028, and the new mayor is considering a business activity tax.
This sale follows a $1.2 billion bond offering in July, the District’s annual capital borrowing. Part of that money went to an infrastructure fund for redevelopment at the RFK site. Moody’s downgraded D.C.’s general obligation rating to Aa1 from Aaa in 2025 due to federal workforce cuts but raised its outlook to stable in April.
By midsummer, investors appeared to have moved past that uncertainty.
“Last year’s uncertainty is now largely priced into the market,” Dora Lee, director of research at Belle Haven Investments, said earlier this year.
