Trump threatens to derail Commanders' stadium deal over name change
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President Trump at the White House on Friday. Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
President Trump said he may move to block the Washington Commanders' new stadium as he called on the NFL team and also MLB's Cleveland Guardians to restore their old names.
The big picture: The Commanders changed their name from the Washington Redskins and the Guardians from the Cleveland Indians in the wake of an anti-racism movement that swept the U.S. after the 2020 murder of George Floyd and following years of activism and protests against the monikers that many Native Americans considered offensive.
- The Commanders had urged the D.C. Council to get the RFK Stadium redevelopment approved or risk Trump's intervention, per Axios' Cuneyt Dil. The president can influence the NFL stadium project due to the power of the White House and through federal design commissions, Dil notes.
Driving the news: "The Washington 'Whatever's' should IMMEDIATELY change their name back to the Washington Redskins Football Team," Trump said in a Sunday post to Truth Social.
- "Likewise, the Cleveland Indians, one of the six original baseball teams, with a storied past," he said.
- "Our great Indian people, in massive numbers, want this to happen," added Trump, without providing evidence.
Zoom in: In a later post, Trump said he "may put a restriction" on the Commanders "if they don't change the name back."
- "I won't make a deal for them to build a Stadium in Washington," he added.
- Trump went on to attack Matt Dolan — a former state senator who's the son of the late Cleveland Guardians owner Larry Dolan, whom AP reports is no longer involved with the team.
For the record: White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters during a Monday briefing that Trump was "serious" about his comments on the Commanders.
- "Sports is one of the many passions of this president and he wants to see the name of that team changed," she said.
- "You've seen the president gets involved in a lot of things that most presidents have not," Leavitt added.
- "He's a nontraditional president. He likes to see results on behalf of the American people and, if you actually poll this issue with sports fans across the country, and even in this city, people actually do support the president's position on this and the name change."
What they're saying: Chris Antonetti, the Guardians' president of baseball operations, said in a media statement he hadn't paid much attention to the matter of changing the team's name back.
- "But I would say generally, I understand that there are very different perspectives on the decision we made a few years ago," Antonetti said.
- "Obviously it's a decision we've made and we've gotten the opportunity to build the brand as the Guardians over the last four years and are excited about the future."
- The Commanders declined to comment on the matter.
The Native American Guardians Association said in an emailed statement Monday it stood with Trump in the push.
- Renaming the sports teams was a "scam to demonize proud Native identifiers in sports and the mainstream," added the group, which filed a lawsuit against the Commanders' name change that a federal judge dismissed last year.
Suzan Shown Harjo, an enrolled citizen of the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes and a Native American activist, urged the Commanders in a Facebook post to "keep up the good work" and "keep on the path of righteousness" after Trump's post.
- "Guardians, you were right to dump 'Chief Wahoo' and to scrap the 'Indians' name and egregious behaviors," wrote Harjo, a poet, who has long campaigned to end racist Indigenous mascots in sports.
Editor's note: This article has been updated with comment from White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, the Native American Guardians Association and to reflect that the Washington Commanders declined to comment.
Axios' Russell Contreras contributed reporting.
