It's Tuesday!

🌤️ Today's weather: Mostly sunny, high 77 and low around 61.

🏈 Situational awareness: We're at our annual Axios Local retreat, connecting with colleagues from around the country.

• While we huddle up, enjoy a special newsletter takeover on Mayor Bowser's sports legacy.

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Today’s newsletter is 1,184 words — a 4.5-minute read.

Outside the D.C. mayor's office, Muriel Bowser has trophy cases on display.

• Inside, there's a street sign for Black Lives Matter Plaza, a Pat Collins Snow Stick, and a photo of the mayor meeting Big Bird from "Sesame Street." But the prevailing theme is sports.
• Team photos and championship rings are the centerpiece. There's a Commanders helmet from the 2025 game in Madrid, as well as Freedom 250 Grand Prix memorabilia, a more recent addition.

Why it matters: Nearing the end of her third and final term, the mayor is taking a victory lap after establishing D.C. as a "Sports Capital."

• In an exclusive interview with Axios, Bowser discussed her legacy and her priorities before leaving office in January.

Her legacy, as she sees it: "All professional sports teams will be in the District of Columbia by 2030."

• "When I say now that the Super Bowl can come to Washington, people don't laugh at me," she says.

To get there, she had to woo the Commanders back from Maryland, secure control of the RFK Stadium land from the federal government, and negotiate a deal that could win D.C. Council approval.

• Two years ago, she helped keep the Wizards and Capitals in D.C. after the teams announced plans to decamp to Virginia.

The big picture: Sports have been part of Bowser's economic development strategy since her first year as mayor in 2015, when she pitched them as a way to develop neighborhoods and counteract D.C.'s dependence on federal jobs.

• That was before the pandemic fueled remote work, emptying downtown, and DOGE took a buzzsaw to the federal workforce.

🔮 What she's saying: "It seems clairvoyant, right?"

• "What DOGE did took us off a cliff," she says, "but we always had the mindset of attracting more private-sector jobs, and now we have to be very serious about it."

She also points to creating incentives to convert federal buildings, attracting new employers in tech, and investing in hospitals and universities.

• "It's not, 'Do you invest in sports, or do you invest in this other thing?'" she says. "You have to invest in both."

Fast forward: A decade after becoming mayor, her "Sports Capital" pitch is starting to look less like a slogan.

🗓️ Case in point: D.C. is building a calendar of major sports events.

• The National Women's Soccer League championship is Nov. 21 at Audi Field. In April, the Men's Frozen Four — college hockey's grand finale — comes to Capital One Arena.
• And Washington hosts the 2027 NFL Draft later that spring.

Keep reading below ...

The biggest project still to come: The new Commanders stadium at RFK.

💰The mayor's office describes the Commanders' $2.7 billion commitment toward stadium construction as the "single largest private investment in the District's history."

• And while D.C. hasn't yet landed its first Super Bowl, the incoming $3.7 billion domed stadium will make it a contender. Just look at Vegas and Nashville.

Yes, but: Bowser's sports legacy comes with a sizable public tab.

• During her tenure, D.C. has committed more than $1.6 billion to build or renovate major sports venues, per reports from Bowser's administration earlier this year.
• More than half of that is for the new Commanders stadium. The broader RFK development package tops $1 billion when you include parking, infrastructure and public spaces like a sports complex.
• The rest includes about $515 million for Capital One Arena, $150 million for Audi Field, and $64 million for CareFirst Arena.

The other side: Critics of the RFK deal, including urbanist advocates at Greater Greater Washington, say taxpayers shouldn't subsidize billionaire team owners.

• GGW estimates the actual public cost is closer to $6 billion when accounting for the value of riverfront real estate, interest on municipal bonds, and tax revenue forgone by using the land for the stadium and parking facilities.
• As master developer, the NFL team controls the space, and critics worry housing and retail could lag far behind the stadium and parking.

Zoom out: Academics and economists have found little evidence that stadiums boost economic development, but Nationals Park is often held up as an exception.

• D.C. is on track to pay off construction bonds for Nats Park this fiscal year — 10 years ahead of schedule — and will use the same revenue stream, fueled by business and ballpark taxes, to pay for its $500 million bill at the RFK stadium site.

For Bowser, the value in pro sports isn't captured only on a balance sheet.

• "We had an [MLB] All-Star Game and a World Series here, which I think is really special to D.C. for the amount of time that we didn't have professional baseball," she says.

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⏰ No time to waste: Bowser says her team is working on a "warm handoff" for the next administration to build infrastructure around the RFK site and push through zoning for mixed-use parcels in the master plan.

And she isn't done shaping D.C.'s stadium portfolio.

• When Axios interviewed her earlier this month, she opposed a D.C. Council proposal to put $300 million toward adding seats and a roof to the eight-year-old Audi Field.
• "My advice to the next mayor would be: You don't want to take $300 million out of your first budget," she says.
• Since that interview, news broke that Bowser plans to introduce legislation to renovate Nationals Park, which opened in 2008. Details haven't been shared, though the Nationals pitched a $350 million overhaul last year.

Share this story ... and read Bowser's take on the Capital One Arena deal

Council Member Trayon White walked free yesterday after three days of jury deliberations couldn't produce a unanimous verdict, ending his bribery case in a mistrial.

• At a press conference, a reporter asked White what the $35,000 in cash he took from a businessman was for — if not a bribe. "Let's stay on topic, man," White responded.
• But U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro is vowing to take it back to the courtroom, and calls could grow for the D.C. Council to again expel White from office. (CityCast)

🛍️ New rules went into effect yesterday at Westfield Montgomery and Wheaton malls, which require visitors 17 and younger to have an adult chaperone after 3pm. The restrictions are aimed at curbing disruptive after-school behavior. (Fox 5)

📸 The latest Flock ban: Fairfax County schools. FCPS preemptively banned the cameras and other automated license plate readers from school property over privacy concerns. (FFXNow)

😋 "Together We Dine," an October promo from Washington's restaurant association, kicks off tonight with a happy hour at Croix near Buzzard Point. Look for events and specials all month.

🙌 Anna, Cuneyt and Mimi are at the Axios Local retreat in Atlanta!

This newsletter was edited by Alexa Mencia Orozco.