RFK to FedEx to ?

It has been 20 years since the stands shook and the stadium felt like one consciousness. And two decades seemingly in exile in a distant suburb saddled with only losing.

- Rick Snider

A piece of Washington Redskins fans perished the day they left Robert F. Kennedy Stadium and Dec. 22 will mark 20 years since the final taste of victory by defeating the rival Dallas Cowboys. Jack Kent Cooke Stadium, soon renamed FedEx Field, is now home to a generation of fans who wonder what the old place in the city felt like. And it’s still a decade away from a new stadium.

RFK is only one of several venues to host Redskins games, but it’s considered home and still standing for now. At least, until city leaders know whether the Redskins will return to the eastern border site. And that won’t happen for at least a few more years and only if Washington outbids Maryland and Virginia for the team’s next home in 2027.

Until then, the nation’s first multi-sports stadium that is now the last remaining from that 1960s era of buildings still stands. A soccer team and a couple college football games play there annually and occasionally some music festival. Otherwise, it’s like some curvy-tiered monument to the Redskins despite a Major League Baseball team and many others also sharing it.

“When you walk into that stadium, it’s one of the greatest feelings in sports,” said Redskins coach Joe Gibbs during his introduction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. “Yeah, it was a crummy stadium with crud hanging off of it. And the fans are right on top of everybody. But I’ll tell you this, when people came in there, it was hard to beat us.”