President Donald Trump has reignited controversy over team names in American sports, threatening to block a new stadium deal for Washington’s NFL team unless it abandons the “Commanders” name and returns to the “Redskins,” a term widely considered offensive to Native Americans.
Trump’s comments came Sunday on his social media platform, where he also urged Major League Baseball’s Cleveland Guardians to revert to their former nickname, the Indians. “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 wrote.
The Washington franchise retired its old name and logo in 2020 amid a national reckoning over racial justice and cultural sensitivity, adopting the “Commanders” identity in 2022. Similarly, Cleveland dropped the “Indians” nickname in December 2020 and rebranded as the “Guardians” ahead of the 2022 MLB season.
Both organizations have consistently rejected calls to reverse course. Commanders owner Josh Harris, whose group purchased the team from Dan Snyder in 2023, has previously stated the name change is final. The team did not immediately respond to Trump’s remarks on Sunday.
Trump’s threat appears aimed at the planned new stadium for the Commanders on the site of the old RFK Stadium, where the franchise played for decades. Earlier this year, the District of Columbia government and the Commanders announced plans for the new facility. But while Congress historically controlled much of the city’s budget, President Joe Biden signed a bill in January transferring the RFK land from federal to city control, as part of a broader spending measure passed in December.
D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson downplayed Trump’s ability to block the deal. “I don’t know what the restriction would be,” Mendelson told The Washington Post on Sunday. “The city now owns the land, and the agreement is between the District and the team.”
In Cleveland, Guardians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti indicated before Sunday’s game against the Athletics that there are no plans to revisit the name change. The team had already phased out the controversial “Chief Wahoo” logo in 2018, years before the official name change.
Trump also linked Cleveland’s rebranding to politics, claiming that part-owner Matt Dolan, who ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate in Ohio in 2022 and 2024, had suffered electoral defeats due to the 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,” Trump posted. “Indians are being treated very unfairly. MAKE INDIANS GREAT AGAIN (MIGA)!”
Matt Dolan, who left his formal role with the team’s charitable arm in 2016, no longer has a direct role in the Guardians’ daily operations. His family, however, remains involved in ownership.
Adding another layer, billionaire investor David Blitzer holds minority stakes in both the Commanders and the Guardians.
Critics argue that restoring either franchise’s previous name would reverse progress on cultural sensitivity, while Trump and supporters frame the issue as a rejection of what they call political correctness. Despite the pressure, both Washington and Cleveland remain committed to their current names.
As it stands, Trump’s ability to unilaterally block a stadium deal appears limited, but his remarks underscore how team names remain a flashpoint in American cultural debates.
