Commanders Ignoring Trump’s Demand on Team’s Name, Instead Focusing on Title and Plans for New Stadium

The Washington Commanders report for training camp at Ortho Virginia Training Center in Ashburn, Virginia, on Tuesday ready to prepare for the upcoming NFL season and navigate some unexpected turbulence created by President Trump.With the start of the season at hand, the Commanders seemingly had no time to respond to Mr. Trump’s threat to impede efforts to build a new stadium in Washington, D.C., if the team doesn’t bring back its old nickname — Redskins, which many native Americans groups view as an offensive term.“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,” Mr. Trump posted on Truth Social. “I won’t make a deal for them to build a Stadium in Washington.”Sources within the Commanders’ organization offered no response to requests by the Sun for a comment. Perhaps, the organization is hoping once the whistle blows for the first official practice on Wednesday, the focus will return to what is the most anticipated NFL season in the nation’s capital since the first Joe Gibbs era.The Commanders were the surprise of the league last year. Behind the first-year head coach, Dan Quinn, and a rookie quarterback, Jayden Daniels, Washington went 12-5 during the regular season and reached the NFC Championship for the first time since 1991, losing to the eventual Super Bowl champion, the Philadelphia Eagles.Josh Harris, whose group purchased the franchise from Dan Snyder in 2023, said the Commanders’ success has given the team’s new nickname a new identity and he has vowed not to change it. “In this building, the Commanders mean something,” Mr. Harris said in February. “It’s about players who love football, are great at football, hit hard, are mentally tough and great teammates. It’s really meaningful. That name is growing in meaning.”Mr. Snyder retired the nickname “Redskins” under pressure from sponsors before the 2020 season. The club played the 2020 and 2021 seasons as the Washington Football Team before adopting the nickname Commanders to salute the region’s military community.Mr. Trump has never liked the name change. “It doesn’t have the same ring to me,” he said in July. “But winning can make everything sound good. So if they win, all of a sudden, the Commanders sounds good. But I wouldn’t have changed it.”The Commanders are hoping to build a new stadium on the site of the old RFK Stadium with a tentative opening date of 2030. Both parties of Congress passed a bill last year that gave the local D.C. government a 99-year lease of land. The Washington, D.C., council, Mayor Murel Bowser, and the Commanders have been negotiating the details. Initially, the Commanders would contribute $2.7 billion to a nearly $4 billion project, with another $1.1 billion coming in public funds.Ms. Bowser told ESPN getting the 13-member D.C. council to approve the project is “on the 1-yard line and it’s time to get over the line.”“That’s all you want,” she added. “No fumbles, no interceptions — let’s just get it over the line. That’s what we’re focused on.”While committed to keeping the current nickname, the Commanders have tried to acknowledge the team’s legacy. Last season, the club honored the late Walter “Blackie” Wetzel, the tribal chief of the Blackfeet Nation, for designing the logo featured on the side of the players’ helmets when they were called the Redskins.This year, one of the Commanders’ alternate uniforms is a replica of those used between 1982 and 1991. The Commanders currently play at Northwest Field in Landover, Maryland, a venue that has served as their home since leaving RFK in 1996.

Commanders Ignoring Trump’s Demand on Team’s Name, Instead Focusing on Title and Plans for New Stadium

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