| Built
in 1961 and seen by many as the first stadium of the
"cookie cutter" era, D.C. Stadium was the home
of both baseball's Washington Senators and the NFL's
Washington Redskins. Built at a cost of $20
million, the stadium was renamed in 1969 to honor
Senator Robert F. Kennedy, who had been slain the
previous June.
The
Senators having moved out after 1971, the arrival of the
Washington Federals for 1983 was seen by some as a great
opportunity to fill the stadium's nearly 55,000 seats
during spring months when it otherwise sat empty.
Unfortunately the Federals' arrival came at the
absolutely worst possible time - in 1982 the Redskins
won their first NFL championship in four decades,
stirring up fans interest in the NFL club. In
essence, the Feds were doomed before they ever stepped
on the field at RFK.
After the Federals headed south to Orlando for 1985, RFK
continued to serve as home of the Redskins until the
team built a new stadium in 1997. In 2005 what
will almost certainly be the stadium's last major tenant
moved in when the Montreal Expos baseball team was
relocated to the nation's capital. The Washington
Nationals will call RFK home through 2007, after which
they will move into their own new facility.
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ROBERT
F. KENNEDY
MEMORIAL STADIUM |
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Washington,
D.C. |
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