White House Responds to Report of Washington Commanders Naming Stadium After Trump

Trump also became the first sitting president to appear at an NFL game during the regular season in decades.

President Donald Trump shakes the hand of a young fan as he attends the NFL football game between the Detroit Lions and Washington Commanders with Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (L) at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Md., on Nov. 9, 2025. John McDonnell/Getty Images

The White House said Nov. 8 it would be “beautiful” for the Washington Commanders to name their planned stadium after President Donald Trump, just a day before he attended the NFL team’s game in Maryland.

Trump on Nov. 9 attended the Commanders’ matchup against the Detroit Lions at Northwest Field in Landover, Maryland, making him the first sitting president to appear at an NFL game during the regular season in decades. Only two other presidents have done so: Jimmy Carter in 1978, and Richard Nixon in 1969.

In the third quarter of the game, Trump joined Fox broadcasters Kenny Albert and Jonathan Vilma where he spoke about the team’s plan to build a new stadium in the nation’s capital.

“They’re going to build a beautiful stadium. That’s what I’m involved in, we’re getting all the approvals and everything else,” Trump told the broadcasters.

Prior to the game, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also said on Nov. 8 that she thinks it would “beautiful” if the Commanders’ decided to name their upcoming stadium after the president.

Her remark came after an ESPN report suggesting that there have been chatter between the White House and the team’s ownership group about that possibility.

“That would surely be a beautiful name, as it was President Trump who made the rebuilding of the new stadium possible,” Leavitt said.

The Epoch Times has reached out to both the White House and the Washington Commanders for comments but did not receive a response by publication time.

The Commanders reached a $3.7 billion deal with the District of Columbia on April 28 to have the NFL team move back to the nation’s capital. The deal will see the team play at the site of the defunct Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, which will be demolished. Construction is expected to begin in 2026, and the new stadium is expected to open in 2030.

Deebo Samuel of the Washington Commanders catches a touchdown in the third quarter of a game against the Detroit Lions at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Md., on Nov. 9, 2025. Greg Fiume/Getty Images

In July, Trump threatened to block the stadium deal unless the Commanders return to their former name, the “Washington Redskins.”

He said the change would make the team “much more valuable” and “the deal would be more exciting for everyone.”

“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,” he stated on Truth Social on July 20.

The team dropped the “Redskins” name in 2020 in response to criticism that it was offensive to Native Americans, rebranding as the Washington Football Team and later adopting the name Washington Commanders in 2022.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.