Copyright Us Weekly
President Donald Trump reportedly wants the new Washington Commanders stadium to be named after him. A White House source told ESPN in a report published on Saturday, November 8, that there has been communication between President Trump and the Commanders’ ownership. The source said President Trump expressed desire to have the stadium have his name. “That would surely be a beautiful name, as it was President Trump who made the rebuilding of the new stadium possible,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Us Weekly in a statement on Saturday. The new stadium will be built on the old RFK Stadium site that served as the team’s home from 1961 to 1996. The Commanders currently play at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Maryland. Any naming rights for the new stadium will have to be approved by the National Park Service and the D.C. City Council, but ESPN reports that President Trump has the leverage to get the stadium named after him. “He has cards to play,” a source told ESPN. “He can make it very difficult, through government environmental approvals and other things, to make sure everyone who wants this stadium to be built will join to put his name on it. Trump has plenty of cards to play to get his way.” The D.C. City Council approved plans for the new stadium in September after a push from Mayor Muriel Bowser. The Commanders will invest $2.7 billion into the 65,000-seat stadium. Washington D.C. will contribute another $1 billion and will lease the stadium to the team. The development will also include housing, a sports complex and retail shops. Sources also told ESPN that President Trump wants the stadium to be named after him as a tribute or thank you for his work to get it approved, similar to Lambeau Field or the former RFK Stadium. Three months after NFL commissioner Roger Goodell announced the plans for the new stadium, President Trump said he would block construction if Commanders owner Josh Harris did not change the team name back to its old name of the Redskins. The name was originally changed in 2020 under former owner Dan Snyder, as it was considered offensive to some Native American groups. The franchise spent two years as the “Washington Football Team” before changing its name to the Commanders in 2022. President Trump is scheduled to be in attendance at the Commanders game on Sunday, November 9, against the Detroit Lions, as the guest of Harris. He will be participating in halftime activities to honor the military. According to NFL reporter Albert Breer, there have been no formal conversations between President Trump and the Commanders about the naming of the new stadium, but Harris is expecting it to be a topic of discussion during the game on Sunday. President Trump has long boasted his name on his various hotels and golf courses around the world. Most recently, lawmakers in D.C. introduced a bill to rename the Kennedy Center as the Donald J. Trump Center for Performing Arts. The news comes in the midst of the longest government shutdown in United States history.
