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WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump is scheduled to attend this Sunday’s NFL game between the Detroit Lions and the Washington Commanders. It’s the latest in a long list of sporting events President Trump has watched in person since returning to the White House.
Trump will be heading to the game at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Maryland, home of the Commanders, to participate in Veterans Day celebrations at halftime, a White House official confirmed to USA TODAY.
ESPN’s Pat McAfee, who first reported Trump’s attendance, said the president plans to watch the game from Commanders owner Josh Harris’ suite. President Trump welcomed Harris to the Oval Office in May and announced plans for the 2027 NFL Draft to be held on the National Mall in Washington.
President Trump has repeatedly expressed disapproval of the “Commanders” name and urged Washington to revert to the team’s previous name, the Redskins, which the team dropped in 2020 amid nationwide protests against racial injustice.
In July, President Trump threatened to block Washington’s plan to build a new stadium in the District of Columbia if the team didn’t join the Redskins, but he appears to have moved forward. In September, the D.C. Council approved a $3.8 billion stadium deal to move back to the site of RFK Stadium, which served as the franchise’s home from 1961 to 1996.
The Lions-Commanders game will be the first NFL game of the 2025 season that Trump, a lifelong sports fan, has attended. Weeks into his second term in the White House, Trump became the first sitting president to watch the Super Bowl in person. He followed that up the following weekend by participating in the Daytona 500.
He hasn’t slowed down, attending the NCAA Wrestling Championships in Philadelphia, the LIV Golf Tournament at his Doral Golf Club in Miami, a FIFA Club World Cup soccer match in New Jersey, multiple UFC matches, the U.S. Open Men’s Tennis Finals in New York City, the New York Yankees game commemorating the 24th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and most recently the Ryder Cup in Long Island, New York.
X Contact Joey Garrison at @joeygarrison.
