Trump wants Commanders’ new DC stadium named for himself

The commander in chief wants the new Washington Commanders’ stadium, located outside of Washington, DC, to bear the Trump name. The White House is all but confirming a report from ESPN that it has expressed interest in naming the stadium after President Trump as the team moves ahead with plans for construction on the site of the old Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in Southeast DC.

“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 told The Post on Saturday.

The White House did not provide further clarification on whether the naming was a requirement for continued support, but a source told ESPN bluntly, “It’s what the president wants, and it will probably happen.”

Trump is set to attend Sunday’s Commanders home game against the Detroit Lions after spending the start of the weekend at Mar-a-Lago. He will join a special Veterans’ Day event at halftime and will view the game from owner Josh Harris’ luxury box.

Pro stadium naming rights sell for millions of dollars annually. For example, Northwest Federal Credit Union agreed to pay $7.5 million per year for an eight-year naming deal after a similar FedEx naming contract expired last year for the stadium that currently hosts the Commanders.

The current stadium is located in Landover, Maryland, outside DC, with a contract with the team running through 2027. The new stadium, part of a massive commercial development, is projected to be completed by 2030.

In July, Trump threatened to hold up the stadium deal unless the team changed its name back to the one it had during its glory days. The team ditched the Washington Redskins moniker in 2020 and adopted the Commanders name after years of pressure and controversy.

“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 posted on Truth Social at the time, although he did not follow through on the threat.

Like many projects in DC, the stadium naming involves overlapping bureaucracies. The stadium sits on land managed by the National Park Service, but D.C.’s city council would also have to approve a naming arrangement under a long-term lease.

Former President Joe Biden signed legislation in January transferring control of the land from the federal government to the city for a period of 99 years. The DC City Council approved plans for the $3.7 billion, 65,000-seat domed stadium in September.

The team played at RFK from 1961 until 1996, at a location that lines up with the U.S. Capitol and the Washington Monument and was a notable feature of aerial broadcasts during the team’s heyday.
https://nypost.com/2025/11/08/us-news/trump-wants-commanders-new-dc-stadium-named-for-himself/