Hello Northwest Stadium, and goodbye FedEx Field: The Washington Commanders announced a naming rights deal Tuesday that will see the name of the team’s stadium in Maryland change for the first time in 25 years.
The new sponsor is Northwest Federal Credit Union, a Herndon-based institution, and the Commanders’ press release notes it’s the “first naming-rights partnership for a credit union in NFL history.” FedEx ended its naming rights deal with the team earlier this year.
There’s also some potential for interesting confusion around the new moniker: The stadium shares its name with Washington, DC’s most populous quadrant, and of course there’s a state named Washington in the Pacific Northwest that has its own NFL team. Moreover, the Commanders are working toward returning to the site of RFK stadium in Northeast DC. Commanders owner Josh Harris said Monday that he expects that project to move forward after this fall’s elections. The team is obliged to remain in Maryland through 2027.
Andrew Beaujon joined Washingtonian in late 2014. He was previously with the Poynter Institute, TBD.com, and Washington City Paper. He lives in Del Ray.
