Donald Trump dropped the other clown shoe yesterday, warning on Truth Social that “I may put a restriction” on the Washington Commanders 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.”
That’s all very vague and confusing — Trump isn’t the one making the deal, the D.C. council is, though presumably the president could try to block it or get Congress to supersede it — but it already has news sites speculating that Maryland and Virginia could re-enter the bidding for a Commanders stadium, since though neither of the states might have $7 billion lined up, they at least wouldn’t be using federal land that would be subject to the whims of the chief executive.
That wasn’t the only big Commanders news this weekend: Robert Bobb, the former D.C. and Oakland city official and one-time wannabe Oakland NFL owner Robert Bobb issued a report evaluating the proposed RFK site deal, which concluded it would pose “several notable risks”:
- It’s unclear who would be responsible for maintaining the RFK site and stadium; Bobb suggests capping the amount of city money to be used for this purpose.
- Construction delays could lead to a shortfall in district tax revenue; Bobb suggests increasing the district’s borrowing to supply a cushion if needed.
- Bobb suggests a schedule by which the RFK land would revert to District control “if it remains undeveloped after a certain period.”
- There should be more fleshed-out transportation, environmental, and public safety plans.
These are all reasonable enough concerns, but hardly the biggest ones in a deal that would include $1 billion in direct taxpayer spending and at least $6 billion in discounted land and tax breaks — it answers exactly zero of the questions on the bingo card, for starters. Sports economist J.C. Bradbury posted, “Someone paid for this? This is awful,” which is the correct response; the new Bobb report didn’t even reference Bobb’s last report finding that a new stadium and surrounding development would only generate $26 million a year in new tax revenue, which would be a beyond pathetic return on a $7 billion city expense.
D.C. still has two more stadium reports it’s waiting on, but the concern here is that the Bobb report could end up guiding the city council to focus on its proposed minor tweaks to the Commanders deal rather than the far more major concerns about it being the largest taxpayer sports subsidy in history by a factor of more than four. Assuming Trump’s saber-rattling about the team name doesn’t cause the council to throw up its hands and bail on the entire thing, that is. More news as councilmembers, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, and Commanders owner Josh Harris chime in, no doubt, but suffice to say this is a plot twist that no one expected, even though expecting the unexpected from the White House should probably be standard operating procedure at this point.
“I won’t make a deal for them to build a Stadium in Washington”
Considering this jamokes experience with the USFL, I say: Go for it
If one is so unfortunate as to have the last name Bobb and parents who saddle you with the first name of Robert, I think it behooves you to change your first or last name.
Or no-one will take you seriously.
I would recommend William, James or Joseph. Or all three.
Robert Bobb was a fairly effective City Manager for the City of Oakland. He had a falling out with the mayor at the time, Jerry Brown; one of the issues was reportedly his push for a downtown Oakland ballpark which Brown rejected. Three of the four lots were subsequently developed as low-rise housing, one lot remains as the Field of Weeds. Bobb is now working with AASEG who have nearly finalized their purchase of the Oakland Colesium/Arena complex after years of bureaucratic delays. At this point in time, it may be a favorable outcome, we’ll see how it goes.
https://www.aasegoakland.com/current-members
https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2025/07/18/oakland-coliseum-sale-alameda-county-approval/
Bobb is to City Management, as Bingo Long was to baseball, with the apt nickname of “Bob Squared”
As for AASEG, let’s see how it plays out tomorrow with the Alameda County Board’s vote; because that whole “redevelopment property tax is way more than our 3rd party’s 15% projection!!” is suspect, at best.
“I’m going door-to-door to bring you this incredible offer!”
– Pee Wee’s Playhouse
I absolutely expected this plot twist.
I don’t think it will change anything. The team does not want to change the name, the city council does not want them to change the name, the sponsors do not want to change the name and Trump will likely be dead before this is ever built.
Seems like either a) A headline-getting distraction while the real dirty work goes on elsewhere in the White House or b) Yet another grift that will have to be satisfied before getting approval. Nothing that a decent size donation to a presidential library wouldn’t solve…
Let’s not forget that due to changing copyright laws, the team couldn’t restrict use of the name redskins or the “Indian head” logo.
So, in effect, that would mean that anyone could create merchandise and legally sell it.
Tell me how any owner would simply accept that.
And on that point, when he bought the team, the current owner was asked if he’d bring back the name. He demurred for the same reason.
I think you mean trademark laws. It would be several years (at least 5, if not 10 or more) until the team’s rights to the name and logo would be lost. It would depend on their trademark registrations and how long they could prove use. There are ways to extend rights if need be. And there may be goodwill rights in perpetuity that the team can take advantage of, at least for some cash. Take a look at the USFL v Fox case from 2022.
Yes. I meant trademark. And it was an immediate termination.
Details here. https://patentsavers.com/redskins-lose-their-trademark-protection/
I had forgotten about that specific ruling. However, is is not hard to imagine that the current administration, whether they have the legal authority to do it, would order the USPTO to reverse that ruling because our Chief knows that Indians really love the name.
Trump is going to save the DC taxpayers from this horrible stadium deal
I gotta be honest. Maybe I am just looking at it wrong, but I do not understand how any municipality at any level gets swindled by this nonsense.
If the market is good for a sport or whatever, then the market is good and no subsidies are needed. It is not like there are unlimited number of good markets. There are a number of bad markets (whatever “green bay” is, buffalo, jacksonville, las vegas, new orleans, wherever in tennessee that team plays), but few places to send those teams. There are simply not enough big markets without teams.
DC is flush with lobbying/corruption cash, which no offer market can offer. It is at the top. The corrupt politicians should be making the team pay bribes to get access to the market, not giving them money.
Billionaire team owners (John Fisher excepted) would seem to have plenty of disposable cash to contribute to re-election campaigns. “Nice little elected office you got there. It would be a shame if anything were to happen to it, capice?” Where better to schmooze with other potential donors than wining and dining them in the city’s private suite at said stadium?
Unfortunately for taxpayers, politicians see competing jurisdictions in the same region to which a team could move without relocating to a different media market and politicians are paranoid about being labeled as the mayor or governor “who lost the team”. Just last week, the scumbag MLB commissioner blamed Oakland’s former mayor for the A’s leaving, and he claimed (falsely) that Oakland might have a chance to get an MLB expansion team now that she is out of office.
The Commanders are pitting DC against Maryland and Virginia, just as the Wizards pitted DC against Virginia to get ginormous new arena subsidies from DC, just as the Royals (a team that no other market is trying to get) are pitting Missouri against Kansas.