White House Discussed Naming New Washington Commanders Stadium After Trump

Officials in the Trump administration have discussed the president’s wish to have the new stadium of the Washington Commanders football team named after him, according to a senior White House official.

The new site will allow the Commanders to return to the District of Columbia by 2030 after having spent about three decades in suburban Maryland.

“That would surely be a beautiful name, as it was President Trump who made the rebuilding of the new stadium possible,” Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said in an emailed statement.

ESPN reported earlier that Mr. Trump wanted the stadium to be named for him, and that his associates were said to have conveyed the idea to Josh Harris, the football team’s owner.

It is unclear how Mr. Trump has contributed to the construction of the new stadium. The team played at that site, about two miles east of the Capitol, before moving to Maryland.

In December 2024, Congress passed a bipartisan bill to transfer the land around Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium to the D.C. government from National Park Service, which kicked off the redevelopment process of the stadium that would house the team.

The land’s previous jurisdiction under the park agency had been a major roadblock to the redevelopment of the stadium campus, as the land use was strictly limited, barring commercial or housing development, according to legislation passed by the District of Columbia Council in September that approved the $3.7 billion deal for the new stadium.

The naming rights for the new stadium belongs exclusively to the developers of the new stadium compound, according to the term sheet signed by Washington’s mayor, Muriel E. Bowser, and Mr. Harris.

Naming rights deals for N.F.L. stadiums often hold millions of dollars in market value. Bank of America, for example, spent around $140 million to have the Carolina Panthers’ stadium in Charlotte, N.C., named after the company for about two decades.

Ms. Bowser’s office and the Commanders declined to comment.

The White House did not respond to a question about how the name change would be possible. The president was expected to attend the Commanders’ home game against the Detroit Lions on Sunday.

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