President Donald Trump will be attending Sunday’s NFL game between the Washington Commanders and the Detroit Lions in honor of U.S. military veterans.
Nicki Jhabvala, a Commanders reporter for the Athletic shared a statement from Washington Commanders President Mark Clouse in which Clouse expressed that he was “honored” to welcome Trump to the game. Clouse added that the Commanders organization is “proud to participate in the NFL’s league-wide Salute to Service initiative.”
“We are honored to welcome President Trump to the game as we celebrate those who have served and continue to serve our country,” Clouse said. “The entire Commanders organization is proud to participate in the NFL’s league-wide Salute to Service initiative, recognizing the dedication and sacrifice of our natin’s veterans, active-duty service members, and their families this Sunday.”
Trump’s presence at the game in Landover, Maryland will represent the first time in “more than 47 years” that a sitting president has gone to an NFL game, excluding Super Bowl games, according to the New York Times‘ Athletic:
It’s been more than 47 years since a sitting president attended an NFL game that wasn’t the Super Bowl. On Oct. 2, 1978, a Monday night, then-president Jimmy Carter attended Washington’s 9-5 win over the Dallas Cowboys at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium. The first sitting president to attend a non-Super Bowl NFL game was Richard Nixon, who was at Washington’s 41-28 loss to the Cowboys on Nov. 16, 1969 at RFK Stadium.
A “league source” told the outlet that Trump will be attending the game “in the Commanders’ owners suite alongside the team’s managing partner, Josh Harris.”
Trump’s attendance at the game comes as he has called on the Washington Commanders to change their name back to the Washington Redskins.
“The Washington ‘Whatever’s’ should IMMEDIATELY change their name back to the Washington Redskins Football Team,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social from July.
Trump has also expressed that he would not “have changed the name,” adding that the Washington Commanders name “doesn’t have the same ring” to him.
The president’s attendance at the Commanders-Lions game on Sunday comes after several sources told ESPN that Trump wants the Commanders to name their “$3.7 billion stadium after him.”
While White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told the outlet that if the stadium were named after Trump it “would be a beautiful name,” and credited Trump is making the “rebuilding of the new stadium possible.”
