Trump threatens Commanders’ $3.7 billion stadium deal over Redskins name change

President Donald Trump could get in the way of plans for a swanky new Commanders stadium.

Trump is threatening to hold up the franchise’s stadium deal if the team does not change its name back to the Redskins, which is considered offensive to Native Americans.

“I may put a restriction on them that if they don’t change the name back to the original ‘Washington Redskins,’ and get rid of the ridiculous moniker, ‘Washington Commanders,’ I won’t make a deal for them to build a Stadium in Washington,” Trump wrote Sunday on his Truth Social account.

The Commanders, who currently play at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Md., are planning to build a $3.7 billion home at the site of the old RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C.

3

It’s unclear how exactly Trump could hold up the deal, after former President Joe Biden signed a bill in January that passed control of the land for the stadium from the federal government to the District of Columbia. 

Trump also called for the Cleveland Guardians to change their name back to the Indians, claiming there was a “big clamoring for this,” too.

The Guardians and Commanders both assumed their new names ahead of their respective 2022 seasons, and both franchises have made it clear they plan to keep the monikers. 

3

“We understand there are different perspectives on the decision we made a few years ago, but obviously, it’s a decision we made,” Guardians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti said Sunday. “We’ve got the opportunity to build a brand as the Guardians over the last four years and are excited about the future that’s in front of us.”

The Commanders have not made a public statement since Trump’s comments, but owner Josh Harris reiterated the franchise would not be reverting its name after he took over in 2023. 

3

Trump’s adamant stance on the Commanders’ name comes just two months after he, Harris, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser appeared together at the Oval Office to announce that the 2027 NFL Draft would be taking place in Washington at the National Mall.

At that event, Trump had praised the plans for a new Commanders stadium in D.C., saying he didn’t think “there is a better site anywhere in the world than that site.”