Commanders Field

Commanders Field is an American football stadium located in Landover, Maryland, 5 mi east of Washington, D.C. The stadium is the home of the Washington Commanders of the National Football League (NFL). From 2004 until 2010, it had the NFL's largest seating capacity: over 91,000. By 2023, the capacity had been reduced to about 65,000.

The stadium is owned and operated by the Commanders, with non-NFL events managed by team owner Josh Harris's company, Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment (HBSE). The stadium opened in 1997 as Jack Kent Cooke Stadium. FedEx Corporation purchased the naming rights in 1999, and the building was renamed FedExField. In 2024, FedEx relinquished those rights and the franchise temporarily applied the team name to the stadium while seeking a new sponsor.

20th century
In the 1990s, Redskins owner Jack Kent Cooke was seeking to build a new stadium that would allow him to make more money than did Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in Washington, D.C. In 1994, Cooke sought to build next to Laurel Park Racecourse along Whiskey Bottom and Brock Bridge roads, but lack of parking facilities and public support prompted him to discard the idea. Instead, the stadium was built in Landover, Maryland, on Wilson Dairy Farm. A special exit, Exit 16 (Arena Drive), was built from Interstate 495, also known as the Capital Beltway. Cooke named the site Raljon after his sons Ralph and John, registering Raljon with the United States Postal Service for the stadium campus's specific 20785-4534 ZIP+4 Code, and going to some lengths to require media to use Raljon in datelines from the stadium.

Cooke died months before the opening of the new stadium, which his sons named Jack Kent Cooke Stadium. It opened on September 14, 1997, when the Redskins hosted the Arizona Cardinals. In May 1999, Daniel Snyder bought the team and the stadium, briefly renaming the building Redskins Stadium. Later that year, he sold naming rights to FedEx for 27 years at an average of $7.6 million per year. The stadium was officially renamed FedExField on November 21, 1999. The Raljon dateline requirements and placename were phased out by Snyder by the 1999 preseason, and the team has listed the stadium as residing in Landover since then.

21st century
Initially, the waiting list for season tickets was reportedly more than 160,000 names long. The Washington Post reported in 2009 that ticket office employees improperly sold tickets directly to ticket brokers for several years before the practice was discovered that year.

The team has not had a game blacked out on local television since 1972 when home-game broadcasts were banned outright because it does not count premium-club-level seating when calculating sellouts. The stadium's sellout streak, excluding premium seating, dates to 1965, eight years before the new blackout rules were implemented.

In 2002, the Prince George's County Sheriff's Office helped provide security at FedExField during Redskins games. Security was also reinforced in October 2002 during the D.C. sniper attacks.

From 2004 to 2010, Washington's fans set the NFL regular-season home paid attendance records. In 2005 the team drew a record 716,998 fans overall. The December 30, 2007, 27–6 win against the Dallas Cowboys was the most-watched game in franchise history, with 90,910 fans in the stands to see Washington clinch a playoff spot. The team led the NFL in attendance in 2000 and every year between 2002 and 2008. On January 8, 2000, the Redskins defeated the Detroit Lions 27–13 in the first NFL playoff game at FedExField.

In 2023, the stadium and team were acquired by a group headed by Josh Harris for $6.05 billion. The following year, Harris's company Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment (HBSE) took over operating non-NFL events at the stadium. In February 2024, FedEx announced that it had opted out of its naming rights contract before its expiration in 2026. The franchise temporarily applied the team name to the stadium while seeking a new sponsor.

Design
The stadium has five levels: the Lower Level, the Club Level, the Upper Level, and the Lower and Upper Suite Levels. The Lower Level is named the Bobby Mitchell Level in honor of Bobby Mitchell, a Redskins running back from 1962 to 1968 and later a team executive. The Club Level is named the Joe Gibbs Club Level in honor of Joe Gibbs, the team's head coach from 1981 to 1992 and again from 2004 to 2007. The Upper Level is called the Pete Rozelle Upper Level in honor of Pete Rozelle, the commissioner of the National Football League from 1969 to 1989. The stadium has 257 suites.

College football
Commanders Field hosts the annual Prince George's Classic college football game, which is a game usually between two historically black universities. It has hosted several other college football games, including the 1998 game between Notre Dame and Navy, the 2004 Black Coaches Association Classic between USC and the Virginia Tech, and the 112th Army–Navy Game.

Soccer
Commanders Field has been used for some international and exhibition soccer matches. On March 28, 2015, Argentina defeated El Salvador at the stadium before a crowd of 53,978. On June 7, 2014, the stadium hosted a doubleheader. In the first game, Spain, the 2010 World Cup winner, defeated El Salvador 2–0 in a warm-up match in front of a crowd of 53,267. In the second game, D.C. United played Columbus Crew to a scoreless draw in the first regular-season game United hosted at the stadium.

It hosted four preliminary matches and one quarterfinal doubleheader in the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup. On July 1, 1999, the United States women's national soccer team defeated Germany's women's national team 3–2 in the FIFA Women's World Cup 1999 quarterfinals.

The stadium has also hosted a number of club soccer exhibition matches. During the July 2005 World Series of Football, D.C. United hosted Chelsea F.C. there; the 31,473 spectators represented D.C. United's third-highest ever home attendance. On August 9, 2009, D.C. United hosted another international friendly against Real Madrid at FedExField. On July 30, 2011, Manchester United ended its 2011 summer tour with a 2–1 win over F.C. Barcelona at FedExField in front of 81,807 fans. This represented the largest soccer crowd in D.C.-area history. FedExField was used on July 29, 2014, in the International Champions Cup as Manchester United played Inter Milan; the game ended in a 0-0 draw and the shootout was won by Manchester United 5-3. On July 26, 2017, Manchester United played F.C. Barcelona again at the FedExField as part of International Champions Cup. This time the Catalan club secured a narrow 1-0 victory over Manchester United in front of 80,162 fans, with Neymar's last goal for F.C. Barcelona being the difference. On August 4, 2018, FedExField hosted a 2018 International Champions Cup match between Real Madrid and Juventus. Real Madrid won 3-1. On July 23, 2019, FedExField also hosted a match between Real Madrid and Arsenal. The match ended 2-2, and Real Madrid won the penalty shootout.

Commanders Field was being considered as a 2026 FIFA World Cup venue and was up against 16 other venues around the United States, including M&T Bank Stadium in nearby Baltimore; with the final list of 10 stadiums to be decided in 2022. However on April 22, 2022, the stadium dropped out of the bidding process, the organizers having decided instead to merge their bid with Baltimore and move the region's games to M&T Bank Stadium, though fan activities would still have been staged on the National Mall. The Baltimore bid was ultimately rejected in the final round, making it the first time since 2002 that a World Cup match was not played in the capital city.

Rugby union
Commanders Field hosted a rugby union match between New Zealand and the USA Eagles on October 23, 2021. This was the first time a rugby union game has been hosted at FedExField. The Eagles lost 104–14 in front of a crowd of 39,720 people.

Concerts
The stadium has hosted several major concerts, including the HFStival and George Strait Country Music Festival in 2000, the Rolling Stones with the Strokes in 2002 and with Ghost Hounds in 2019, Metallica with Deftones, Linkin Park, and Limp Bizkit in 2003, Bruce Springsteen in 2003, Kenny Chesney in 2005, 2011, 2012, and 2013. U2 with Muse, and Paul McCartney with Thievery Corporation in 2009.

In 2017, U2 returned to the stadium with The Lumineers. Guns N' Roses and Alice in Chains played at the stadium in 2016, Coldplay played in 2017 and 2022, Taylor Swift performed two nights in 2018 as part of her Reputation Stadium Tour with Camila Cabello and Charli XCX. Beyoncé and Jay Z performed two nights as part of the On the Run II Tour with Chloe x Halle and DJ Khaled. Childish Gambino and Lil Wayne performed in 2019 as part of the Broccoli City Festival. The Weeknd performed at the stadium on July 30, 2022, as part of the After Hours til Dawn Stadium Tour. Ed Sheeran performed at the stadium on June 24, 2023, as part of his Mathematics Tour. Beyoncé performed two nights in 2023 as part of the Renaissance World Tour.

Criticisms
Many fans feel Commanders Field does not compare favorably with RFK Stadium, the team's previous stadium, being widely regarded as one of the worst current NFL stadiums, if not the worst current NFL stadium. Commanders Field was rated as the worst stadium in the NFL in a 2022 poll.

In January 2007, The Washington Post reported that former team owner Daniel Snyder met with Washington, D.C., officials and former Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe about building a new stadium. In 2005, eight years after the stadium opened, 1,488 premium "dream seats" in three rows were added in front of what was the first row when the stadium was built. Because some of these seats are too low to see over the players on the sideline, occupants of these seats stand in order to see the game.

In 2011 and 2012, 14,000 seats were removed from the upper deck due to lack of demand. In June 2015, The Washington Post reported that another 4,000 to 6,000 seats in the upper decks were removed in 2015.

The stadium is about a mile away from the Morgan Boulevard station, the nearest Metro station to the stadium. Furthermore, federal regulations prohibit publicly paid shuttle service from public transit agencies when a private service is available. Since private service is not cost-effective, fans taking public transportation must walk to and from the stadium.

In 2021, three water leaks occurred near to fans. In 2022, as Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts was walking down the away team tunnel, a barrier separating seated fans from the away team tunnel gave way, causing several people to fall. According to several witnesses, team staff did not show care for or call for medical attention for the fans who fell, but yelled "get the F off the field". The team released a statement responding to the criticisms, claiming the team did provide medical evaluations on site, but one fan denied that they did. Hurts was the only one who asked if they were okay. Hurts later wrote an open letter about the incident to the NFL, asking that action be taken to prevent an incident like this from recurring.