581 - RFK Stadium

Today I explored an abandoned football stadium. 

The good ole’ RFK of Maryland- home of the Washington Redskins from 1961 to 1966. At three different points in history, Redskins fans celebrated Super Bowl victories in this architectural wonder. 

And I say architectural wonder for good reason. This was one of the first stadiums in history to deploy a “cookie-cutter” design- a concept that allowed the stadium to be used for both football and baseball events. The stadium was officially opened in 1960 and played its final game in 2017. 

That’s an almost 60 year run for those of you that don’t do math.

Now, in 2023, the retired stadium sits in silence counting down the days until it’s set to be demolished. A stark contrast to the deafening roar of 50,000 fans. 

The off-putting thing was that the stadium was positioned right in the middle of a highway roundabout. This means that at all times, vehicles were constantly circling the field like flies around a dead corpse.

I scouted the perimeter in my Prius, counting three camera stations and a single security guard. He was chilling on TikTok in his flexed out Dodge Charger. 

Seeing my chance, I quickly parked across the street, hail mary’d across the highway, and bopped in through a hole in the perimeter fence. Now came the hard part. Getting in the sealed stadium, while avoiding the guard, cameras, and any stray police officers observing from the highway. 

During my drive-by, I hadn’t been able to spot any open entrances inside the fence. Everything I’d seen had gated and/or boarded off. For a brief second I considered whether this was a suicide mission or not. But then I corrected myself. Trust the process.

I started with the bottom half of the stadium, where the guard wasn’t posted up. But the thought crept into my mind that he could drive by at any second. A hair on the back of my neck stood up and I looked around. Nothing. 

I walked a little further, and my eyes began begging for anything I could use to get in. A pillar to climb? A hole in a gate? A door I could try? 

Then I noticed a security camera to my immediate left. Fuck. Is someone watching? A hole began to appear in my stomach.

Keep going.

I envisioned how much relief I’d feel once inside. How incredible it’d look to see the field that’d been rotting for almost a decade…

And then suddenly I noticed a small garage door. I’d been left about halfway open, and all I could see was darkness on the other side.

Bingo.

I was in- and with perfect timing. Golden hour had begun to set in. The pillars leading up the stadium illuminated like trees in some kind of urban jungle:

View fullsize

“Prisoner’s Dilemma”

Taken with Sony a7rIII + Sony 24-105mm f/4 G

[ISO 2000 ~ 24mm ~ f/4 ~ 1/3200s]

I took it as a cue to go higher. The sound of circling cars began to fade into a muffled drone, and the sound of wind replaced it.

I walked into the stands, and took in my first view of the stadium in all its former glory. My first impression was that it looked like a post-apocalyptic film set. All the seats had been removed, and thousands of rusty bolts laid in their place. Weeds had turned the field into a dying grassland, and birds swarmed the rafters. Old billboards peeled in the sunlight, and rust had spread across the stadium's massive steel columns.

Taking a panorama felt like the move:

“Rust Bowl”

Taken with Sony a7rIII + Sony 12-24mm f/4 G

[ISO 2000 ~ 12mm ~ f/7.1 ~ 1/3200s] [Panorama]

The more I looked around, the more it felt like zombies were gonna start emerging from the passageways at any moment. Old metal creaked in the wind, and unknown sounds echoed in sporadic intervals around the stadium. This place was actively falling apart.

I decided to work my way down to the field. Being high up suddenly didn’t seem so appealing.

As I navigated the maze of concrete to the bottom, I couldn’t help but realize that everything was open. Announcer rooms, box-seats, locker rooms… Everything that was normally off-limits to the average civilian was fair game.

But I didn’t have a lot of time. The sun was setting fast and I wanted to get it gleaming across those billboards. After quickly scoping out a few half-demolished announcer booths, I emerged onto the field:

View fullsize

“Field Goal”

Taken with Sony a7rIII + Sony 24-105mm f/4 G

[ISO 320 ~ 24mm ~ f/4 ~ 1/1000s]

I’ve spent way too much time trying to figure out how they got that trash can up there.

This next shot made the place feel even more like a Kansas prairie:

“Pigskin Pasture”

Taken with Sony a7rIII + Sony 12-24mm f/4 G

[ISO 1250 ~ 12mm ~ f/9 ~ 1/250s]

As I walked around the field, a strange feeling crept in. What was once the epicenter of international sports was now completely forgotten. And in less than a year, this place would be gone forever.

Darkness began to take over the stadium and I took one last look. Then reality hit me. I suddenly considered the fact that someone could have shut the garage door and I’d be locked in this decaying lagoon overnight. Or that I’d get lost and not be able to find my way out.

Nightmare material at its finest.

But the garage was still open, the security guard was still on TikTok, and the cameras were apparently filming nothing.

I’m not sure if I was extremely lucky with this adventure or if this was as easy as it seemed. I guess we’ll never know.

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I’m on a mission to explore as much as humanely possible.

Want to see my progress? Check out the Adventure Map.

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