Will Commanders host a Super Bowl once new stadium is complete?

When the Washington Commanders unveiled their plans for the new stadium on Thursday, one couldn’t help but wonder, “With a new translucent roof stadium, will the NFL bring a Super Bowl to Washington, D.C.?”

Washington has never hosted a Super Bowl. It’s nothing personal against the former Redskins, now Commanders franchise. All sorts of NFL cities with long-established franchises have not hosted Super Bowls. Philadelphia, Buffalo, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago, Kansas City, and Washington (and others) have not hosted Super Bowls.

Why? Well, for one thing, the Super Bowl originally was an outdoor event. So the first four Super Bowls were in Los Angeles, Miami, Miami and New Orleans. It was certainly cooler when Super Bowls IV and VI were played outdoors at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans, but hey, it was only mild winter weather, still much warmer than any northern NFL cities could have provided.

However, when Super Bowl IX was played again in New Orleans, it was cold, icy, and the NFL made a move to go with warm weather sites exclusively and the future wave of indoor stadiums made Detroit SB (XVI) and Minnesota (SB XXVI) realistic sites as well.

All told Miami and New Orleans (Superdome) provide warm weather and or indoor stadiums and they have both hosted 11 Super Bowls to lead the NFL cities. The near future has the NFL’s Super Bowl scheduled for:

2025 season – Super Bowl LX: Feb. 8, 2026 — Levi’s Stadium (Santa Clara, CA), home of the 49ers
2026 season – Super Bowl LXI: Feb. 14, 2027 — SoFi Stadium (Inglewood, CA), home of the Rams & Chargers
2027 season – Super Bowl LXII: Feb. 2028 — Mercedes-Benz Stadium (Atlanta, GA), home of Falcons

Clearly the Commanders in their planning, their design, their wording in their unveiling announcement have set the stage for bidding for a NFL Super Bowl shortly after the opening of their stadium. So look for the Commanders to be hoping to host a Super Bowl in something like 2032 or 2033. With a 6:30 PM Super Bowl kickoff, it would look something like this:

So, would the Commanders stand a good chance after their stadium is scheduled to be completed in 2030? Well the NFL has some stated criteria:

70,000 stadium capacity. Certainly, no accident, 70K was the announced capacity for the new RFK stadium.
The average game day temperature of at least 50°F or the stadium must have a climate-controlled dome or a retractable roof. The new stadium is going to have a translucent roof.
The city must have enough hotel rooms within a 60-minute drive to equal 35% of the stadium’s capacity. The NFL also requires a hotel with a minimum of 1,000 rooms for its use, including free amenities.
There are several other requirements as well, including 35K parking spaces, practice facilities, and NFL perks. The Commanders would need to satisfy these and other requirements for the NFL to award a Super Bowl to Washington.