(The Center Square) – Washington, D.C., now has administrative control of 170 acres of land including RFK Stadium as part of the D.C. Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium Campus Revitalization Act.

The bill, passed at the end of last congressional session and signed by President Joe Biden on Monday, allows the city and Washington Commanders to negotiate building a new stadium and development on the site.

The bill signing was attended by D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and Commanders representatives.

The question now becomes how much in taxpayer dollars would be used on a potential project.

Recent proposals for new NFL stadiums and developments have consistently cost taxpayers billions. The Cleveland Browns are asking for at least $1.2 billion in funding for a proposed new $2.4 billion stadium in Brook Park despite legal threats from the city of Cleveland.

A new $2.2 billion Tennessee Titans stadium and development in Nashville will cost taxpayers $1.26 billion for construction but will lead to an estimated $3.1 billion tax capture to pay off bonds for construction along with ongoing maintenance through the terms of the lease.

That does not include additional federal grants and both city and state funding for developments surrounding the stadium.

Economists have consistently shown that professional sports stadiums are not worth the taxpayer funds sent toward them and that they do not live up to the economic benefits promised.

Economists also have shown that teams pay for economic impact reports from consulting groups that show positive public gains, which never come to fruition, while attempting to convince politicians and the public to spend public funds on stadiums, arenas and developments.

Ownership of the RFK Stadium campus remains with the United States while D.C. was granted jurisdiction over the site for at least 99 years, a timeframe that can be renewed.

The bill stipulates that D.C. may not use federal funds for “stadium purposes on the campus, including training facilities, offices and other structures necessary to support a stadium.”

“It is a good day for DC when we finally have control of our own destiny at the RFK campus,” Bowser said in a statement. “We are ready and optimistic about unlocking the full potential of this space, and with more than 170 acres of land we can do it all – deliver housing, economic opportunity, green space, recreation, sports, and more.”

Economists studying stadium projects have consistently shown that sports stadiums do not help to create more affordable housing or taxpayer benefits.

“it's about diverting public tax dollars to a private entertainment business venture,” economist J.C. Bradbury of Georgia’s Kennesaw State University wrote.

Bradbury has worked with economists across the country and extensively shown the lack of benefit to publicly funding sports stadiums.

“The common justification that stadium-related spending results in increased economic activity is not well founded, because most fan spending derives from existing area residents who reallocate their spending from other local leisure consumption options,” according to a paper written by Bradbury, Dennis Coates of the University of Maryland-Baltimore County and Brad Humphreys from West Virginia University. “Thus, spending at sports events crowds out other local spending and does not represent net new spending to the area.”