With efforts underway to build an updated Washington Commanders football stadium at the old RFK Stadium site in D.C., President Donald Trump allegedly wants the new facility named after himself, according to an ESPN report that broke Saturday.
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Trump administration officials and a member of the Commanders’ ownership group have been engaged in backchannel discussions on the matter, a senior White House source told ESPN.
“That would be a beautiful name, as it was President Trump who made the rebuilding of the new stadium possible,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt wrote in a statement to ESPN.
The sports outlet says she declined to answer additional questions, but added, “It’s what the president wants, and it will probably happen.”
A Commanders spokesperson declined to comment. The office of the city’s mayor, Muriel Bowser, declined comment, according to The Associated Press.
Trump is scheduled to attend the Commanders’ home game against the Detroit Lions on Sunday; a team source told ESPN that while stakeholders expect to have conversations with Trump about the stadium name at the game, no formal discussions have taken place so far.
The Commanders do own the new stadium’s naming rights, presumably to be sold to a corporate sponsor. The final call will likely be made by the D.C. Council, which will lease the stadium to the Commanders, and the National Park Service, which manages the land on which the facility will be built.
Former President Joe Biden signed a bill in January that transferred the land that had the old stadium from control of the federal government to the District.
The new stadium was first teased in April by Bowser and Commanders owner Josh Harris. Back in July, Trump said he would block the construction of the stadium if Harris did not change the team name from Commanders back to its former Redskins moniker. Regardless, in September, the stadium was officially approved with an 11-2 council vote. It’s slated to be finished in 2030.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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