NEED TO KNOW
- President Donald Trump is hoping the Washington Commanders name their new stadium after him, ESPN reported on Monday, Nov. 10
- The team plans to demolish the defunct RFK Memorial Stadium in Washington D.C. and build a new stadium in its place
- “That would surely be a beautiful name, as it was President Trump who made the rebuilding of the new stadium possible,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told PEOPLE
President Donald Trump is reportedly hoping to be the namesake of the Washington Commanders’ new stadium.
On Monday, Nov. 10, one day after Trump and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth attended the Commanders’ game against the Detroit Lions at their current home, Northwest Stadium in Landover, Md., ESPN cited multiple White House sources who said the president hopes they name their planned new stadium after him.
After months of negotiations, on Sept. 17, the D.C. Council voted to approve the Commanders’ plans to demolish the defunct Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium — which sits along the Anacostia River in eastern Washington, D.C. — and build a new stadium in its place.
PEOPLE reached out to the White House for comment on the reports that Trump wants the stadium named after him.
“That would surely be a beautiful name, as it was President Trump who made the rebuilding of the new stadium possible,” replied White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.
The president first weighed in on the construction in July, when he was asked about the stalled $3.7 million stadium plan.
“We’ll see what happens,” Trump said. “I’ve been looking at the deal, and I don’t blame them. It’s a very important piece of property, so we’ll see. But if I can help them out, I would.”
At the time, however, his concern was not about the name on the stadium. He told reporters that his “controversial statement” was that he thought the team name should be changed back to the Washington Redskins.
“I wouldn’t have changed the name… It doesn’t have the same ring to me,” Trump said.
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The NFC East team was founded as the Boston Braves in 1932 and renamed the Boston Redskins the following year. They then became the Washington Redskins upon moving to Washington, D.C., in 1937.
Under public pressure during a period of protests and racial unrest in 2020, the team dropped the “Redskins” moniker, which some saw as offensive to Native Americans. They played as the Washington Football Team for two seasons before rebranding as the Commanders in 2022.
“The Indians don’t know why these names are being taken off,“ Trump told reporters back in April. “I think it’s degrading to the Indian population, and it’s a great population.”
“I think [Redskins] is a superior name to what they have now and it had heritage behind it, it had something special,” he added.
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