GREATER LANDOVER, Md. — On July 22, 2023 -- when Josh Harris officially took ownership of the Washington Commanders -- one of the first things he told the gathered media was, “we have a lot of work to do." And boy, has he gone to work.
To date, Harris has hired a new general manager, Adam Peters, and a new head coach, Dan Quinn. Harris also has set a priority of finding a new team president, with Jason Wright departing his role at the end of the season. But the energy shift is palpable already for those of us that have been around this franchise for multiple decades.
"People are having fun, he's a unifier, he's a culture builder, and obviously we needed a culture builder," Harris said of Quinn's impact on the organization. "We ended up getting an amazing cadre of coaches, play callers.... and Dan is molding that into a unit. And then they're bringing an incredible amount of talent and energy and expertise to the players themselves who are all having fun also."
Now, one of the major goals for Harris and the rest of his ownership group is to find a site for a new stadium. Harris told me in January they had identified three sites in D.C., Maryland and Virginia for new digs.
"We've always said that RFK is the spiritual home of the commanders, we've always acknowledged that," Harris said of whether he has "ranked" his three jurisdictions for stadium selection. "But at the same time, Maryland has been incredibly hospitable to us. We've been honest that we need to really try in Washington, but also make sure we're taking care of Maryland and Virginia at the same time."
The first thing that has to happen to make a D.C. stadium a reality is for the RFK bill to pass through Congress. I asked Harris what he'll do if that doesn’t happen this session.
“Nothing is really gonna happen until the presidential election. Now I’m being an amateur political pundit here," he joked. "It appears to have bipartisan support, so hopefully it will get passed in the session between the election and January when a new Senate and [House] and president are sworn in. If it doesn’t happen you have to see what the landscape is."
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The team has already made improvements to their current stadium, Commanders Field. It's all part of trying to bring the fan base back, and keep them.
"My job is to help the city of Washington create memories," Harris said. "And I remember this [team] has been so important to me, so I want everyone to have that feeling."
The first thing that will help everything Harris and company want to achieve is to build a winner. He told me that it will take some time, but his ultimate goal is to make the Washington Commanders an elite franchise.
"We're gonna be way more competitive," Harris said when asked about his expectations for the team this year. "I'm really excited to see Jayden and see what he does. He's really impressive so far on every level. My expectations are that you see a lot of improvement."
Harris ended his time with me by clarifying that while he wants the franchise to be elite as fast as possible, he's not going to sacrifice quality to make it happen.