Taylor Swift broke local Swifties’ hearts this week when she announced The Eras Tour, her first U.S. stadium tour in five years — but named no D.C.-area stadiums on her initial list, which included just about every other NFL stadium. Worse yet, Swift announced eight additional tour dates Friday morning due to overwhelming demand, telling fans: “Looks like I’ll get to see more of your beautiful faces than previously expected.”

FedEx Field, the Washington Commanders’ stadium in Landover, Maryland, remained off that list. The Midnights artist added dates in cities including New Jersey, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles — cities that already had multiple tour dates listed.

Question … is D.C. the problem?

Some have pointed out that FedEx Field kind of sucks. USA Today ranked it the worst NFL stadium, given its history with malfunctioning pipes and railings, and its shrunken seating capacity. In fact, FedEx Field’s only listed events online currently are the Army-Navy game in December 2024 and Ed Sheeran’s tour next summer. On TripAdvisor’s list of two things to do in Landover, FedEx Field is #2 (just behind the Prince George’s Sports and Learning Complex).

At-Large D.C. Councilmember Christina Henderson took to Twitter to air her grievances about the “Anti-Hero” singer, adding that Swift also left out nearby Baltimore’s M&T Bank Stadium and Charlotte’s Bank of America Stadium. Charlotte is technically farther than Jersey’s MetLife Stadium and Philly’s Lincoln Financial Field, where many local fans plan to travel to for those dates. But we get it, CM Henderson.

https://twitter.com/chenderson/status/1588523785128316930

Other locals have weighed in on #DCSwiftGate:

“As a Swiftie myself and an attendee of her Nationals Park concert, I know ‘all too well‘ how ‘it’s so sad to think about the good times,’ but there is no ‘bad blood,'” D.C. Deputy Mayor John Falcicchio told DCist/WAMU in a statement, referring to Swift’s 2015 concert at Nats Park. Falcicchio added that Swift is welcome to return to “the District of Comebacks” for WorldPride 2025.

Ward 3 D.C. Council candidate Matt Frumin tweeted: “Never in my Wildest Dreams did I think she’d skip DC! Hoping for another date 🤞🏻”

Celeb chef José Andrés tweeted that he would cook for Swift if she added a D.C. tour date.

https://twitter.com/chefjoseandres/status/1588553966165446657?s=46&t=qh1VLAOrZc9Ckl7oyaJLUA

https://twitter.com/dcpl/status/1588551904619298816

Did Swift forget that the D.C.-area exists? Was she lying when she told fans at FedEx Field during her 2018 “Reputation” tour that she loved Maryland? Far from it. It’s possible — at least in the mind of some local football fans — that Swift’s snub of the region was the final step in convincing Dan Snyder to consider “possible transactions” for the Commanders, as the team announced on Wednesday.

https://twitter.com/nathandeanDC/status/1587466000219480064

“We look forward to welcoming Taylor Swift and her fans back to FedExField in the future, just as we welcomed Coldplay, The Weeknd and Monster Jam this past summer,” a spokesperson for the Commanders wrote in an emailed statement. “And we are looking forward to welcoming Ed Sheeran and hosting the Army/Navy game, among others we expect to announce in the coming months.”

Jon Weiss, who runs booking for a smaller D.C. venue, Union Stage and all its affiliated venues, is hopeful as well. Weiss guesses that Swift might be headlining an unannounced festival that would conflict with potential D.C. tour dates, a term talent buyers call being “radiused out.” Weiss suspects Ticketmaster could be avoiding the conflict of people leaving D.C. to see Swift play a festival elsewhere.

“Or, I’m just wrong and there is no festival, and she’s just waiting to play D.C. some other time,” Weiss says. He adds that booking agents wouldn’t skip an opportunity to make money at a major stadium, even one as rough as FedEx Field.

“People will travel to a bad venue to see an artist they really love,” Weiss says. “[Swift] is the type of artist where people would travel anywhere.”

Swift isn’t the only major musician snubbing the District. Pharrell announced this week that he’d be taking his Something in the Water festival back to Virginia Beach after just one D.C. run.

https://twitter.com/ChelseaCirruzzo/status/1588517705879289857