Photo by Tony DeFilippo.

The potential return of the Washington Redskins to the District of Columbia has always been a nice little crutch for local politicians to break out during football season. After all, people in D.C. like their Redskins, and appealing to their sense of hometown pride is never a bad idea, especially in a time of governmental transition and budgetary strife. Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans wasn’t the first person to say that the Redskins should move back into the District when he recently floated the idea, and he most certainly won’t be the last.

But while most political assertions about a potential return to the District for the city’s beloved team lean on the miserable experience of getting to FedEx Field, the sense that the Redskins ought be playing inside the District proper, Dan Snyder’s lust for a new stadium to keep up with Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, or the redevelopment of the RFK Stadium site (all somewhat plausible, if abstract reasons to argue for the team to move back), Evans went a different route — suggesting that, after but 13 years of existence, FedEx Field is already past its expiration date:

“Fedex field is fast becoming the worst stadium in professional football,” Evans says of the venue, the largest stadium in the NFL with over 91,000 seats.

Evans envisions a $2 billion to $3 billion project to tear down RFK, located on the shores of the Anacostia River just over 20 blocks due east of the Capitol Building, and build a new, 110,000-seat stadium with a retractable roof.

Such a facility could be home to much more than the Redskins, he adds.

“You build a 110,000-seat stadium with a retractable roof, and you get the World Cup,” says Evans. “And the Olympics would also be something we could compete for.”

That’s right — according to Evans, a massive 91,000 seat stadium that opened in 1997 should be abandoned.