Donald Trump wants the Washington Commanders to revert to their old nickname, and the U.S. president says there could be consequences for the franchise if they choose not to.
On Sunday morning, Trump shared a message on Truth Social urging the Commanders and Cleveland Guardians to bring back their old nicknames. Washington got rid of their Redskins moniker in 2020, and the Indians became the Guardians in 2022.
Trump said there is a “big clamoring” for both franchises to bring their former names back.
Donald Trump just shared with the world that the #Guardians should “immediately” change their name back to the Indians: pic.twitter.com/HDWS90QmXC
— Grant Puskar (@grant_puskar_) July 20, 2025
After seeing how much attention his initial post received, Trump doubled down by threatening to “put a restriction” on the Commanders regarding their new stadium if they do not change their name back to the Redskins.
“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, the ‘Washington Commanders,’ I won’t make a deal for them to build a Stadium (sic) in Washington. The team would be much more valuable, and the Deal (sic) would be more exciting for everyone,” Trump wrote.
President Trump says he may “put a restriction” on the Washington Commanders deal for a new stadium at the old RFK site if the club doesn’t change its name back to Washington Redskins. pic.twitter.com/mUdGIsonGa
— Armando Salguero (@ArmandoSalguero) July 20, 2025
The Commanders were recently cleared to return to the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium site in Washington, D.C., which they called home from 1961 through 1996. The stadium is still intact, but a new one will be built in its place. It is estimated that the new venue will cost around $3.7 billion, with the Commanders paying $2.7 billion of that.
Some extremely impressive renderings of the proposed stadium have already been released.
It seems unlikely that either the Commanders or the Guardians will change their names back, but Trump is determined to put pressure on the franchises.
