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President Donald Trump has threatened to block a deal for the Washington Commanders’ new stadium if the American football team does not revert to their original name.<\/b><\/p>\n
The US president said in a post on Truth Social on Sunday that a “big clamouring” exists for the “Washington Whatevers” to change back to the Redskins and claimed it would make the team “more valuable”.<\/p>\n
The NFL team dropped the name Redskins<\/a> in July 2020 after a review as it was long considered racist and offensive to Native Americans. They were called the Washington Football Team during the 2020 season before changing to the Commanders in 2022.<\/p>\n In April, a deal was agreed for the Commanders to build a new \u00a33bn, 65,000-seater stadium at the site where RFK Stadium – their home from 1961 to 1997 – still stands.<\/p>\n Last week, DC Council were urged to speed up approving the stadium, external<\/span><\/a> plans by a top Republican politician.<\/p>\n Trump wrote: “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. <\/p>\n “The team would be much more valuable and the deal would be more exciting for everyone.”<\/p>\n