By JOE REEDY and ADRIANA GOMEZ LICONThe Related Press
CLEVELAND — President Donald Trump is threatening to carry up a brand new stadium deal for Washington’s NFL crew if it doesn’t restore its outdated identify of the Redskins, which was thought-about offensive to Native Individuals.
Trump additionally stated Sunday that he needs Cleveland’s baseball crew to revert to its former identify, the Indians, saying there was a “big clamoring for this” as effectively.
The Washington Commanders and Cleveland Guardians have had their present names because the 2022 seasons and each have stated they haven’t any plans to vary them again.
Trump stated the Washington soccer crew can be “much more valuable” if it restored its outdated identify.
“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 stated on his social media web site.
His newest curiosity in altering the identify displays his broader effort to roll again modifications that adopted a nationwide debate on cultural sensitivity and racial justice. The crew introduced it might drop the Redskins identify and the Indian head brand in 2020 throughout a broader reckoning with systemic racism and police brutality.
The Commanders and the District of Columbia authorities introduced a deal earlier this yr to construct a brand new dwelling for the soccer crew on the web site the outdated RFK Stadium, the place the franchise known as dwelling for greater than three a long time.
Trump’s means to carry up the deal stays to be seen. President Joe Biden signed a invoice in January that transferred the land from the federal authorities to the District of Columbia.
The supply was a part of a short-term spending invoice handed by Congress in December. Whereas D.C. residents elect a mayor, a metropolis council and commissioners to run day-to-day operations, Congress maintains management of town’s price range.
Josh Harris, whose group purchased the Commanders from former proprietor Dan Snyder in 2023, stated earlier this yr the identify was right here to remain. Not lengthy after taking up, Harris quieted hypothesis about going again to Redskins, saying that might not occur. The crew didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark following Trump’s assertion.
The Washington crew began in Boston because the Redskins in 1933 earlier than shifting to the nation’s capital 4 years later.
The Cleveland Guardians’ president of baseball operations, Chris Antonetti, indicated earlier than Sunday’s recreation towards the Athletics that there weren’t any plans to revisit the identify change.
“We understand there are different perspectives on the decision we made a few years ago, but obviously it’s a decision we made. We’ve got the opportunity to build a brand as the Guardians over the last four years and are excited about the future that’s in front of us,” he stated.
Cleveland introduced in December 2020 it might drop Indians. It introduced the change to Guardians in July 2021. In 2018, the crew phased out “Chief Wahoo” as its main brand.
The identify modifications had their share of supporters and critics as a part of the nationwide discussions about logos and names thought-about racist.
Trump posted Sunday afternoon that “The Owner of the Cleveland Baseball Team, Matt Dolan, who is very political, has lost three Elections in a row because of that ridiculous name change. What he doesn’t understand is that if he changed the name back to the Cleveland Indians, he might actually win an Election. Indians are being treated very unfairly. MAKE INDIANS GREAT AGAIN (MIGA)!”
Matt Dolan, the son of the late Larry Dolan, now not has a task with the Guardians. He ran the crew’s charity endeavors till 2016.
Matt Dolan was a candidate within the Ohio U.S. Senate elections in 2022 and ’24, however misplaced.
Washington and Cleveland share one other factor in widespread. David Blitzer is a member of Harris’ possession group with the Commanders and holds a minority stake within the Guardians.
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Initially Revealed: July 20, 2025 at 4:40 PM PDT
