By BEN STANDIG Associated Press
ASHBURN, Va. (AP) — Washington’s NFL franchise used to be in the news all the time for reasons other than football. That seemed to have changed under new team ownership, but President Donald Trump’s remarks about the team name and possibly holding up a stadium deal are making waves just as training camp opens.
Still, Commanders general manager Adam Peters made clear Tuesday — at a news conference with coach Dan Quinn a day before the team’s first training camp practice — that he doesn’t expect any of that sort of outside conversation to interfere with their real jobs.
“Whether it’s the stadium or anything else (non-football-related), those things don’t really make it to us,” Peters said. “We’re just trying to focus on what’s going on here and getting ready for the season.”
Trump said Sunday on social media that he “may put a restriction” on the Commanders’ anticipated deal with the District of Columbia government to build a new stadium in the nation’s capital “if they don’t change the name back to the original ‘Washington Redskins,’ and get rid of the ridiculous moniker, ‘Washington Commanders.'”
In 2020, under previous owner Dan Snyder, the franchise changed its long-standing name, which was considered offensive to Native Americans. After last season’s surprising run to the team’s first NFC championship game since 1991, managing partner Josh Harris said that the current name will stay.
“I think it’s now embraced by our team, by our culture, by our coaching staff. So we’re going with that,” Harris said in February.
Harris and Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser agreed on a plan to build a new stadium on the same federal land where the club played for 35 years before bolting to its current home in the Maryland suburbs. The deal, which still must pass through the D.C. City Council, came about after Congress agreed to a 99-year lease with the city government.
For Peters, the matters at hand involve contract extension talks with receiver Terry McLaurin, the recent signing of Von Miller and building a roster capable of repeating last season’s success.
Veterans were expected to report and take their physicals on Tuesday.
“We’re really focused on everything in the building and getting ready for the season and getting our guys in here,” Peters said.