It’s hardly the nicest stadium, but RFK Stadium holds a venerable place in Washington sports history. Open since 1962, when it was called District of Columbia Stadium, the venue has hosted two MLB franchises, the Washington Redskins during their glory years, the most successful MLS club ever, international soccer tournaments, concerts, and on and on. It even hosted Team America! Sunday’s final Nats home game, a 5-3 win over the Phillies, isn’t the last…
If you’ve been to the box suites at RFK Stadium, you may have noticed photos of acts that have played the stadium lining the hallway – U2, New Kids on the Block, the Promise Keepers and so on. But after we finished laughing at the New Kids, one plaque off to the side caught our eye: “Robert F. Kennedy Stadium, site of Olympic football, 19 July-4 August 1996.” What? The Olympics were at RFK? There…
If you managed to stay inside basking in the glow of fluorescent lights and humming computers, congrats. Our informal survey of the city’s green spaces indicates that most Washingtonians didn’t share your stamina and came up with some excuse to get outside. Whether you were “taking the dog to the vet,” “coming down with a touch of the flu” or just dealing with the House’s voting malarkey, we now proudly offer “Go Home Already:…
It’s Third Thursdays, y’all! And 14th Street doesn’t have the monopoly on galleries quite yet, so step over to the 7th Street corridor tonight for a brisk-almost-autumn evening of gallery hopping. You can find the list and a map of participating venues here, but we’ve got some picks for you: >>Touchstone Gallery is featuring some fine photographers, including Harvey Kupferberg, winner of a Washington Post photography award, whose black and white gelatin prints showcase…
When baseball’s return to the District became a reality late last year, city officials and MLB execs agreed that RFK Stadium would serve as a temporary home for the Washington Nationals. The donut-shaped stadium, some 40 years old and lacking in many of the amenities that modern team owners now demand, was merely a pit stop on the way to a new, state-of-the-art stadium in Southeast. But given the recent troubles brewing over baseball in…
Rep. Richard Pombo (R-Ca.) is just one of those guys you wish you just wouldn’t hear from anymore. First he comes along and tries to sneak legislation through that would have allowed the sale of Theodore Roosevelt Island Park to private developers, only to be shamed into removing the offending provision. Now the Post informs us that Pombo — never an enemy of corporate interests and private developers — is trying to allow the…
(Editor’s Note: And for the first part of our Nationals opening day coverage, we start outside the stadium.) As 46,000 anxious baseball fans filed slowly into Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium for the Nationals’ long-awaited return to the District, 100 students, parents and activists protested the state of the city’s schools. Standing behind a banner that boldly read “Millions for Stadiums, Peanuts For Schools,” they denounced schools in disrepair and falling behind in most education…
In a little over three weeks, the Washington Nationals will take to the soon-to-be-completed baseball diamond at RFK Stadium for their first home game in over three decades. Following the trend of most major league sports facilities in the country, District officials have been anxiously searching for a corporate sponsor willing to shell out anywhere from $1.5 to $2 million a year until 2008 for the naming rights to the stadium — a notable change…
When the next chapter of Washington’s baseball history is written this spring, Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium will once again become a focal point of this city’s attention. Since the Redskins moved out in 1997, it has mostly been a soccer field. And no matter how much D.C. United and MLS hype Freddy Adu, chances are you haven’t stopped by in some time. As you’re standing in line to see the Nationals in the…