As the D.C. Council mulls a $3.7 billion plan to build a new Washington Commanders stadium and adjoining development on the banks of the Anacostia River, most D.C. residents are in favor of using city money to help fund the project, a stark change from opinions three years ago.

A 55 percent majority of D.C. residents favor using about $850 million in District funds to help finance the development around a new stadium on the RFK Stadium site, while 39 percent oppose the idea, according to a Washington Post-Schar School poll.

That compares with 47 percent of D.C. residents who supported city funding for a stadium project when asked in 2024 and 30 percent who did so in 2022. Those prior polls did not specify how much city money would be used or where a prospective stadium would be located. Between the 2022 and 2024 polls, Josh Harris purchased the NFL franchise from Daniel Snyder, whose more than two decades as owner were marked by on- and off-field controversies and competitive struggles.

In his 22 months of ownership, Harris and his limited partners have overhauled the organization and invested more than $100 million in upgrades and repairs to the current facilities in Landover, Maryland, and Ashburn, Virginia.

Current support for funding the football stadium is lower than the 64 percent of D.C. residents last year who supported the city paying $500 million for improvements to Capital One Arena.

Harris, Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell last week unveiled the details of the $3.7 billion deal, which includes at least $2.7 billion from the team.

The 65,000-seat roofed venue would replace the decrepit RFK Stadium, which has sat vacant for nearly eight years, and anchor a sprawling mixed-use development on the 180-acre plot. A majority of the D.C. Council would have to approve such a deal; Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) said that a deal to bring a stadium to RFK is likely to go through in some form but that he expects the council will make significant changes to it with the aim of saving some taxpayer money.

“My initial sense is that the deal is very, very, very favorable to the Commanders,” Mendelson said during a news conference Monday. “The end goal should be, what is the best deal for taxpayers? That is not stadium at any price. That would be stadium at a reasonable price.”

The poll, conducted by The Post and George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government, was conducted by phone from April 22 to May 4, using a random sampling of 651 adult residents of D.C., with an error margin of 4.6 percentage points. The poll specified an $850 million price tag based on early reporting of the stadium deal. The full term sheet of the deal announced last week included total costs to D.C. taxpayers of around $1 billion.

The stadium deal was announced while the poll was being conducted, but support for the proposal did not shift from before (55 percent) to after (54 percent) the plan’s details were announced.

Commanders fandom is the strongest factor in stadium support. Seven in 10 Commanders fans living in D.C. favor using $850 million in city money to finance the stadium’s development compared with about half as many Washingtonians who say they are not fans of the team (38 percent are in support, while 55 percent are opposed).

Sports fans in the District who are not Commanders fans narrowly oppose funding the stadium — 51 percent to 44 percent — while a 63 percent majority of those who say they are not sports fans oppose using city coffers to fund the football stadium.

“You know how much revenue it’s going to make for the city?” said Ward 1 resident Barbara Barto, a hockey and Washington Nationals fan who said the proposal should not come as a shock to neighborhood residents. “Sometimes you’ve got to give a little to get a little. … If you live in that neighborhood and didn’t know there was a stadium there, you weren’t opening your eyes. There’s a stadium there.”

Under the terms unveiled last week, the District would help fund stadium infrastructure, parking facilities and recreation improvements. The largest chunk of its contribution — $500 million — would come from the Sports Facilities Fee (formerly the Ballpark Fee), a tax on businesses earning $5 million or more. D.C. would also invest $202 million for utilities infrastructure, roadways and a Metro transit study. Events DC, the convention and sports authority for the District, would add in $181 million for parking garages.

The District would purchase other parking facilities from the Commanders in 2032 for $175 million, a future cost that will be funded by stadium revenue after the venue is up and running.

Support for public funding for the stadium is strongest in Wards 7 and 8, with 63 percent in favor; Ward 7 is home to the RFK site. In Wards 1 and 2, a similar 60 percent favor financing a football stadium.

Wayne Young, a 65-year-old Ward 7 resident, is not a fan of the Commanders but finds the proposal “exciting” and isn’t “frightened” by the use of city money for the project.

“What frightens me is that people don’t speak of the revenue it will generate,” he said. “So, the reality is people need a balance between the revenue spent and the revenue that it will generate. … What I want to hear more is the other part to see what the balance is. The part that is not discussed is the revenue it will bring in, in the short term and long term.”

About half (51 percent) of residents in Wards 5 and 6 favor using city money for the project (40 percent oppose), while opinion is roughly split in Wards 3 and 4 (46 percent in favor, 49 percent opposed). Support is stronger on the east side of the Anacostia River (74 percent) than the west side (49 percent).

The stadium deal is set to appear in Bowser’s fiscal 2026 budget proposal, which she has yet to unveil to the public and council in full. A term sheet Bowser agreed on with the team set a mid-July deadline for council approval, though Mendelson has said that the deadline may not be realistic.