RFK Stadium

Falling apart and hideous
Basically an architectural holdover of the 1960s that is now a decaying pile of rust and concrete that is somehow still standing. Only useful as a history exhibit to show kids how they used to build stadiums back in the old days.
RFK has dissuaded me from going to DCU games when I’ve been on the fence — and I’d rather drive up to see them at PPL in Philly any day.

This stadium is older, but it works. I always wonder what happens to old venues when newer ones are built and older ones are abandoned. RFK has been a mainstay in DC.
Parking can get pricey. Metro is conveniently located right at the stadium. If you are attending any game or event, allow extra time for delays, single tracking and crowds. Read RFK’s web site for any restricted items.
If you are tempted to buy swag inside the stadium but can’t justify the high price for a T-​shirt, there are always vendors outside of the stadium that are sometimes cheaper.
Any large stadium that has metro access, especially after a concert, music festival or giant game is a bonus. There have even been designated parking lots for Lyft/​Über dropoffs/​pick ups.

I’ve attended a couple of DC United games at this venue, while I have always enjoyed the game experience (especially sitting in the supporter sections), this review is specifically about the facility itself, an old long-​forgotten stadium that is in horrendous and borderline unsafe condition, it is an embarrassment to our home MLS team (to the point that it scares away potential fans) and to DC in general, a city that normally prides itself on it’s big-​city amenities and a modern urban lifestyle. RFK is not representative of this in any way or form.
As you approach the stadium (walking from Stadium metro) you will quickly notice the patches of discolored and cracked concrete and peeling paint on virtually every exterior piece of the stadium, the «main entrance» of the stadium is reminiscent of a small town high school stadium (not in a good way) with a sea weeded lawns, rusted gates chained with padlocks, discolored signage, and old outdated turnstiles from a gone era. The concourses are not any better, the close proximity allows you to see even more peeling paint and more rusted gates up close and personal, some sections of seating are not even used anymore and appear too unsafe to ever be used again, other sections (such as the supporter sections) is nothing more than glorified temporary bleachers that now serve as defacto permanent seating. Seats are small and cramped. The «jumbotron» is a tiny screen the size of a small billboard on only one side of the stadium, if you happen to be sitting on the opposite side of the stadium it is nearly impossible to clearly see what is being displaying on the screen without binoculars. Concessions are mediocre. I will stop here to keep this at a reasonable length.
The only reason why I did not rate this a 1 star is my respect for the nostalgia factor that a previous Unilocaler had mentioned and my loyalty to DC United and the fact that this is their home stadium (for now at least). One can only assume that once DC United moves into it’s new stadium this facility will be due for a speedy demolishment.

I went here on a rainy Sunday to watch D.C. United take on Chicago Fire. This was to be my first MLS game at a stadium.
I took the metro from Mt. Pleasant and my connection to the Stadium-​Armory station was delayed by 20 minutes. As the disappointment of having to miss most of the first half of the match took over me, I realized that the train station was full of others in the same predicament.
The stadium is an easy walk from the Armory-​Stadium metro station and the road was full of D.C. United faithful. I had not booked my ticket and bought it off from someone on the street. The security staff were friendly and obviously loved the team and fans as they were shouting and high-​fiving the regulars. As I was making my way to my seat, D.C. United scored and the place went nuts.
The stadium was probably filled to a third and the upper tier was completely unused. That didn’t seem to have any effect on the cheering and singing from the fans. D.C. went to the break 2 – 0 up after a first half of total domination. The stadium was full of people having a lot of fun. The match ended 4 – 0 and Chicago rarely threatened.
The supporters groups of D.C. seem to believe that the best way to celebrate a goal is to throw their tall beer glasses in to the air and watch it drench someone else. So you may want to avoid sitting too close to them.
This review will not be complete without mentioning that the stadium is not in great shape — the whole place trembles when the fans bounce up and down. Now, this happens in a lot of stadiums, but at RFK you get the feeling that the structure may not be able to take it for long.
The passion of the D.C. fans overcomes the non-​fancy stadium and the average quality of the MLS games. I will definitely go back and watch matches here.

I know this is an old stadium, but it has character. I like how the seats bounce when Barra Brava and Screaming Eagles jump. The atmosphere on DC United games is awesome.

This is a rundown facility. It still functions. But you can tell it is old. The box office is essentially a trailer.
There are TVs for fans to watch the covered section. But they aren’t flatscreens. And small– I’m guessing about 15 inches long.
I’ve been to a DC United game and concert. I enjoyed both events. Just the facility isn’t updated. But you make up for it by attending events that you like w friends.

RFK was iconic back in the day when the burgundy and gold (Redskins) regulated the NFL. But in modern day its gotta go away! As others mentioned the facility is old. Its hard to find your seat as the row numbers have faded paint. In addition, you really have to be careful walking as the stadium steps are very steep! To tailgate, parking is a mere $ 25. But expected to be shutdown after the game as the security nicely yells at everyone to pack up and go after an hour has passed after the game. I did enjoy watching the Soccer friendly match between USA and Peru. Hopefully future friendly matches in DC will not be hosted at RFK.

What a disappointing stadium. Not only is it aesthetically unappealing and its seats uncomfortably small, but the walkways are pretty much pandemonium. With people entering/​leaving tunnels, people on line for snacks at the concession stand, people on lines for scattered beer vendors, and people entering/​leaving restrooms, it’s impossible to move or keep in line without a handful of people knocking you out of place. By the time you actually accomplish what you wanted to do, it’s been forty minutes and you’ve missed nearly a whole half of soccer. Terrible.

WENT TO A INT’L SOCCER GAME! Management does not know how to properly staff access to parking lots; which is a priority and then access to the stadium was just not crazy but OVERWHELMING for the customer and the staff! NOT COMING BACK! Chao

the beauty of the dilapidated. there are a lot of reviews on here that describe disappointment over the appearance and condition of RFK, but to me, it’s gorgeous.
i’ve gone to 2 DC United games since moving out here from Phoenix, AZ last fall. i’m an avid soccer fan and the only thing better than a live soccer match is a concert. the 1^st game i sat with the Screaming Eagles, the largest of the 3 supporters groups (SGs) for DC United. this is where my one gripe comes. if you ever sit with any of the SGs, do NOT sit in the middle. unless you like having someone else’s half-​drank beer tossed on you. because that’s how some of the people in the SG section seem to think that’s a good way to celebrate goals and express disappointment. and they tend to sit in the middle. that’s my pro tip.
as i mentioned, i’m from Phx, and they have a habit of tearing down buildings there once they get too old. i’ve always had an appreciation for older structures. they provide a history, a peak into where we’ve come from, that is irreplaceable. RFK is not pretty. but it’s historic. i love the way the floor bounces in the SG section when everyone is jumping and singing. i love the feel and size of RFK. and in talking with many DC natives, i know they feel the same way. losing RFK after DCU builds their new stadium will be a loss to the community.

Sad to say that many of the reviews of the stadium itself are accurate. The stadium is well worn and an embarassment to its namesake. I went last week to a DC United game. Had a tailgate in lot 8 before the game. The parking lot is unkept and uneven. We sat in section 235 and we could feel the great sagging of the stadium floors when the supporters group would jump and chant. I wonder how long the floors of that section will hold up, given the condition of the stadium. We participated in the flag carry before the game but when we arrived at the designated entrance, RFK staff did not seem to know anything about this and could not tell us exactly where to go. It seemed they didnt really care either. We ended up walking a few feet further past the gate and found the spot, with a big large sign. Perhaps the employees’ attitudes reflect the condition of the stadium?

If you’re in downtown DC, look to the east. Did you hear a loud crash and see a big cloud of dust rising from beyond the capitol dome? No? Then I guess RFK is still standing and has miraculously avoided just collapsing into a pile of rubble for at least one more day. Too bad, really. This stadium is the Keith Richards of venues, allowed to linger on long past any hope for a dignified end.
Aside from being a hideous pile of concrete in the grand architectural style (sarcasm alert!) of 1960s utilitarian stadiums, the place fails miserably as a venue. I’ve only been for soccer games (save one Nationals game back in 2007 that I have no strong memories of), and they barely even bother to open any of the concession stands. As far as I can tell, if you plan on eating and drinking at the game, I hope you like chicken fingers and fries and $ 10 tallboys of Tecate or Heineken. I’ve had better options at independent minor league baseball games, and possibly at a few little league games.
DC United is on track to get a new stadium in Southwest at Buzzards Point, and I hope they build it as soon as possible. Once that’s accomplished, it will be time to tear RFK down and find a better use for so much real estate in a city that still needs more affordable housing and more green space. I’m sure when it opened and housed sellout NFL crowds roaring for their team this place was a sight to behold, but that glory is long since faded, and it’s time to move on.

Have been here for some great concerts. This time I was here for the Foo Fighter 4^th of July Concert. Sat up stairs under cover in the event of rain, which it did. This is a great place to see a concert. The adult drinks were flowing. The porthole behind was at the ramps and one ramp down was the terrace bar. This was the place to get (lots) tasty cocktails. My only compliant was they ran out off food in the upper level. This was minor, since they never ran out of booze. If that had happened, we would have had a problem. RFK time is coming to end (as soon as the United move into their new home).

Let me first start out my saying the Foo Fighters concert on the 4^th of July 2015 was absolutely amazing! The fireworks rocked! The show was the ONLY saving grace! The RFK stadium either needs an update or it should be town down. Please Dave do not have your 4^th of July concert there again. Your fans were miserable and hungry!
First, it was almost completely a CASH only event. I waited in line for two separate ATM machines lines that were 25 plus people deep. One for 25 minutes and the only for 45 minutes and they both ran out of money. By 7:00, all of the ATMs on the first level were out of money and all of the ones I found on the second level were too. In 2015, this is absolutely insane!!!
Secondly, there were no food unless you were into hamburgers (one location only), hotdogs (one location only), pretzels, and pizza (one location only). My brother in law waited in line for over an hour for an hamburger. The condiments station was absolutely disgusting so he had to eat it plain. The concert flier said there was a BBQ, but we never saw this! If you want to have variety DO NOT eat here. It’s absolutely disgusting! I was actually scared to eat something because of how filthy this place was. Also, the stands ran out of food!!! Inexcusable!
Thirdly, the lines were insane. The RFK stadium was not prepared for this event in terms of staffing. All the lines were at least 25 – 30 people deep ALL day long! Hire more staff when you have thousands of people eating and drinking ALL day! This concert was an ALL day event.
Also, there was trash everywhere in the hallways as the staffers used the items. Piles of empty boxes of Budweiser… Trash bags scattered around full of trash… This was unsanitary and unkempt. I have never seen any establishment work that way. It’s probably due to lack of staffing I assume.
Finally, the stadium as a whole is not being taken care of. There is chipped paint everywhere, rust everywhere, leaky pipes with liquids dripping on people, and the bathroom are horrible! Be very aware because I unfortunately had no idea that a place of business would be allowed to get into serious disrepair and still operate.
Overall, this place can not handle an all day concert event! Never again!

I am reiterating the horrible experience that was the 2015 Foo Fighters concert. As others mentioned, the music was fabulous.
The info prior to the show indicated there would be bbq (no) and water stations (no, unless you count selling bottles of water). There was no mention that this was a cash only event. Would have been EXTREMELY helpful.
Unfortunately, these are not exaggerations (I wish they were):
— lines for ATMs an hour plus. Most ran out of cash/​were out of order.
— lines for food horrible. Most vendors ran out a few hours into the event (why? they knew how many tickets were sold). I understand the prices are jacked up so I’m not even annoyed by that but it didn’t help when you were running out of cash. It took over an hour to get food — therefore missing a good portion of the concert I already paid $ 95 for. As others mentioned, the only thing that didn’t run out was beer. Stands ran out of water (that you couldn’t bring in), soda, and gatorade.
— Bathrooms were horrible. Not just lines but huge puddles a few inches deep in the women’s bathrooms, not to mention no toilet paper. Just gross. (it rained for about an hour during the show, fyi)
Saying all that, if there is a show here you must see, none of this will deter you. But, come with extremely low expectations, try to smuggle in your own food, and bring a ton of cash. And don’t expect to get home via metro without waiting in huge lines there, too.

Oh how the mighty RFK stadium has fallen. I ventured here for the Foo Fighters Fourth of July #Foo4thRFK the concert was FAN-​FREAKING-​TASTIC but the venue has definitely seen much, much better days. The stadium is in an obvious state of disrepair, on its last leg and somebody needs to please (oh pretty please) put it out of its misery.
So, let’s start with concessions — most were cash only — which is a mystery to me in this day when so few of us carry actual cash money. Fortunately, there were ATM machines on hand but with the thousands of us who live and die by our plastic the lines were 25 – 50 people deep at all times. In fact, about one hour into the opening acts of the concert, all the ATMs except for one, were empty. UGH. Assuming that you actually had money then you could buy beer, drinks and food. All were very low end items … no upscale, Nats-​park esque eats here, we are talking bare bones basics, fried chicken tenders, nachos, hot dogs and fries — virtually flavorless but sustenance nonetheless.
The restroom facilities were, in short, disgusting, not going to elaborate — just ICK. It was as if RFK was new to hosting humongous rock concerts or sporting events and they have DECADES of experience with these types of events.
There are many much, much better venues that host these types of music festivals and RFK could benefit from a refresher course from Wolftrap, Austin City Limits, SXSW, or Merriweather Post. HUGE HUGE improvement needed here from crowd management, to concessions, drinks and facilities. I remember RFK in its glory days and it pains me to see this place in such a sad, sad downward spiral.

DC United seats are pretty reasonable with very few bad views, but tailgating is where it’s at since concessions are unremarkable despite the long lines. I’d go GA field over stadium seating for a concert here. Customer service is wildly unfriendly, accusing us of trying to sneak onto the field when the guy scanning tickets straight up forgot to give us wristbands on the way in. Bag search was efficient. Too bad the lemonade stand didn’t stay open for long! I skipped the pretzels after hearing people complain they were cold.

Reviewing for the Foo Fighters 4^th of July Show.
**Foo fighters and the talent get 5 stars without a doubt. It was a fantastic show.**
RFK Stadium, the staff, management and planners are all 1 star. The place is falling apart. Water dripping everywhere, sitting in puddles– in the covered area! Not to mention, what I consider unforgivable and down right irresponsible, RUNNING OUT OF FOOD! If you wanted food you had to go down to the first floor, wait in line for 45min and overpay for whatever they had available. Plenty of $ 10 beers to go around but actually feeding people or having water or soda? Nope. Awful.

RFK Stadium is awful. I spent 12 hours there yesterday for a July 4^th music festival, and I’m surprised I didn’t catch tetanus from all the rust you’re constantly walking through and bumping up against. It’s like every inch of the paint is peeling, every bit of concrete/​metal is crumbling away slowly, and there seems to be standing water all around the concourse, even without it having rained. Not long after noticing the ample ponds by the beer stands, we did get rained on, and the drainage here was terrible: the water had absolutely nowhere to go, so it created an absolute mess, and leaked all through the concourse. But then again, what do you expect from 1960’s-era construction?
The seats were decent. To RFK’s credit, they replaced the seats when the United moved in, so you don’t have those old baseball wooden seats. But that’s about the only saving grace. The bathrooms are terrible, the walkways from the metro aren’t wide enough for heavy foot traffic, and the concourse is so strikingly empty (wide avenues with nothing in them) that you feel lost in the concrete and metal. Oh, and I had to search 15 minutes to find a single water fountain… they don’t keep them by every bathroom, as you would expect, and instead rely on you to buy $ 5 bottles of water. But the problem? After a show has been rolling for a while, the concession stands flatly ran out of everything, so even if you wanted a drink, one couldn’t be found, unless you wanted a $ 10 beer.
Yea, I’d prefer not to go back to RFK, but if there’s a show there I’d want to see (like the Foo Fighters last night), then I’d probably bite the bullet. But I’d need to bring a tetanus shot and scuba gear.

I’ll go ahead and admit that two whole stars can be directly attributed to nostalgia. I love RFK. I remember going to Skins game here as a kid, multiple HFStivals, Nats games and DC United games. I love this stadium.
I honestly don’t think there’s a bad seat in the house, in terms of watching a game.
But yes, it’s falling apart (literally), it’s in dire need of a new paint (and repairs to the 40+ year old seats), the food is pretty bad and the beers are over-​priced. Did I mention there’s no recycling?
It’s a damn shame that EventsDC can own this building and keep it in such disrepair. Teams WANT to play here, but are turned off by how shabby it is, and end up in Landover (ugh). I won’t get into the politics though.
Look, if you have the chance to come to RFK, definitely tailgate beforehand, take the metro (or bike, even though there’s precious little bike parking), and don’t have super high expectations. It’s a great stadium, but without the modern stadium amenities that we’ve all come to expect. There’s a TON of potential, but no one’s doing anything about it.
Also, Vamos UNITED!

Easier to get to than I anticipated. Not as rough a location as I remembered. Still looks rough around the edges tho.
Was excited to see the US Women’s National Soccer team play (and beat Haiti 5 – 0) but disappointed over the price (about $ 85) considering the stadium was almost empty with over half closed, lack of vendors, etc…

Currently, it’s the home for MLS team DC United. However, back in the day it was used as the home for the Washington Redskins.
It’s a really old stadium and most spectators sit in the lower bowl. On the supporters side, when people jump up and down, the entire grandstand area usually shakes.
However, what is awesome is the atompshere on gamedays, the tailgating and the relaxed atmopshere at these games.
Tips:
— Parking is $ 20
— Tailgating starts in Lot 8 at 3pm on Sat games
— Join the Screaming Eagles Supporters Group!

First, United games are a lot of fun and they need to get a new stadium ASAP. The crowd is really into the game and they keep the drums beating and the flags waving the entire game. The atmosphere is like a mini college football game with a fun, intense atmosphere and dedicated crowd.
As for the stadium, the United do their best with this decaying hulk but it’s clearly poorly maintained and well past its prime. The sight lines from the seats aren’t bad, but the stadium isn’t otherwise impressive. The paint is literally peeling on the outside, the video board is tiny, and the stadium configuration clearly wasn’t designed for soccer. The whole stadium shakes too when the crowd starts jumping, it’s fun but you just hope it doesn’t collapse!
The stadium layout can also be confusing as it is one giant circle where everything looks the same. My friend and I wandered for what felt like 5 miles looking for the free beer redemption stand. Turns out, they had moved it the upper level where is was accessible only via a well hidden ramp.
I’ll be back since I enjoy United games but they need to either totally renovate or demolish this place.

With new sports stadiums popping up in the nation’s capitol, RFK is (thankfully) an endangered species. Previously, this was home to the ‘Skins and Nationals and is currently home to the DC United. However, they will be moving on in the near future, leaving this historic dinosaur behind.
Having never attended a MLS match, we decided to head down to check out the four-​time champs, even though this season has been less than memorable for them. One big plus is you can take the Metro to a stop near the stadium, eliminating the nightmare of DC traffic/​parking. It’s only a short walk away and the way to go, in my opinion.
I was able to get tickets near center field on the day of the game, which were priced okay for the view. No tickets are sold for the upper deck sections, which aren’t even needed from the number of seats empty below.
Now, RFK itself… umm…yeah, it’s definitely showing its age. There are minimal concessions and no bells and whistles associated with all of the newer sports facilities, which isn’t entirely shocking, considering. Thankfully, the restrooms were decent.
However, the minimal skeleton of a stadium serves its purpose and all the die-​hard soccer fans waving flags and beating on drums could obviously care less. We had a fun time, even though the home team added another one to the loss column.