Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium (originally "District of Columbia Stadium" (D.C. Stadium), commonly "RFK Stadium" or "RFK") is a multi-purpose stadium, in Washington, D.C., United States, and the current home of MLS's D.C. United, the Military Bowl presented by Northrop Grumman, AT&T Nation's Football Classic™, and frequently the United States Men's National Soccer Team.
The stadium was opened in October 1961, as the District of Columbia Stadium. It is owned and operated by Events DC.
The stadium was home for a number of major professional sports teams, including the NFL's Washington Redskins (1961 through 1996; moved to FedExField in suburban Maryland), the American League's Washington Senators (1962 through 1971; moved to Arlington, Texas and renamed Texas Rangers), and the National League's Washington Nationals (2005 through 2007; moved to Nationals Park). It has hosted international soccer matches in the 1994 FIFA World Cup, 1996 Summer Olympics and 2003 Women's World Cup.
The stadium was renamed in January 1969, for U.S. Senator and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, who had been assassinated in Los Angeles the previous June. As Attorney General, Kennedy's Justice Department played a role in the racial integration of the Washington Redskins: along with Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall, Kennedy threatened to revoke the team's lease at the federally owned stadium until it promised to sign African American players.
RFK was the first major stadium designed specifically as a multisport facility for both football and baseball.
During the Nationals' tenure at the stadium, it was the fourth-oldest active stadium in Major League Baseball behind Fenway Park, Wrigley Field and Yankee Stadium.
Read more about Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium: History, Design, Dimensions, Stadium Name, Washington Hall of Stars, Public Transportation, Food Vendors, Gallery
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““Three foggy mornings and one rainy day
Will rot the best birch fence a man can build.””
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“The moment when she crawled out onto the back of the open limousine in which her husband had been murdered was the first and last time the American people would see Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis crawl.... She was the last great private public figure in this country. In a time of gilt and glitz and perpetual revelation, she was perpetually associated with that thing so difficult to describe yet so simple to recognize, the apotheosis of dignity.”
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)
“I hope there will be no effort to put up a shaft or any monument of that sort in memory of me or of the other women who have given themselves to our work. The best kind of a memorial would be a school where girls could be taught everything useful that would help them to earn an honorable livelihood; where they could learn to do anything they were capable of, just as boys can. I would like to have lived to see such a school as that in every great city of the United States.”
—Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906)
“In their eyes I have seen
the pin men of madness in marathon trim
race round the track of the stadium pupil.”
—Patricia K. Page (b. 1916)