Trump reportedly wants new NFL stadium in Washington named after him | Washington Commanders
Donald Trump wants the Washington Commanders to put his name on their future stadium, ESPN reported Saturday.
A “senior White House source” told ESPN that the commander in chief expressed his wishes to the NFL team’s ownership group, led by Josh Harris.
“This is what the president wants, and it will probably happen,” the source said.
Trump, of course, is no stranger to putting his name on buildings, hotels, casinos and golf courses as a real estate developer, in addition to selling Trump-branded items ranging from sneakers to bibles.
“It would be a great name, because it was President Trump who made rebuilding the new stadium possible,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told ESPN via email Friday evening.
The domed stadium, planned to cost $3.7 billion, will be built in Washington DC on the former site of RFK Stadium, home of the Washington Redskins from 1961 to 1996. The 65,000-seat stadium is expected to open in 2030.
A spokesperson for the Commanders, who currently play at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Md., declined to comment to ESPN on Saturday.
Besides Green Bay’s Lambeau Field and Chicago’s Soldier Field, NFL stadiums almost always sell their lucrative naming rights to corporate sponsors.
A few facilities have both nicknames and sponsors, including Kansas City’s GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium and Denver’s Empower Field at Mile High.
Presumably, commanders could still sell the naming rights and still satisfy the White House: Northwest Field at Trump Stadium, for example.
Trump is expected to attend the Commanders’ home game against the Detroit Lions on Sunday as a guest of Harris.
