Donald Trump spoke at the White House Monday alongside NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, Washington Redskins, oops, Commanders owner Josh Harris, and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser to announce the league will hold its annual draft on the National Mall in the nation’s capital in 2027.
🚨 @POTUS joins NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, Washington Commanders owner Josh Harris, and D.C. @MayorBowser in announcing that the 2027 NFL Draft will be held on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. pic.twitter.com/adusoCrQZI
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) May 5, 2025
The group said they expect a million or more visitors to the extremely popular event:
“I’m pleased to reveal that the 2027 NFL draft — that’s a big thing — will be held right here in our Nation’s Capital, Washington, D.C. on the National Mall,” Trump said.
Both Goodell and Harris said the draft in D.C. will draw a million fans. And while the final number of fans who enter the perimeter of the event over three days will be maximized by double (or triple or quadruple) counting, it will be a big event.
The 2025 draft was just held in late April, with the Shedeur Sanders story dominating the headlines.
Perpetrator of Cruel Shedeur Sanders Prank Call Revealed, and Hoo Boy, Is He Sorry
The assembled also lauded plans for a new stadium for the Commanders and said it would be beneficial for the entire city.
It comes days after the Commanders and D.C. officials announced a plan to bring the team back to the city with a new domed stadium on the site of the old RFK stadium.
The team has played in suburban Prince George's County, Maryland, for nearly three decades at a stadium built by former team owner Jack Kent Cooke.
.@POTUS on the new Commanders Stadium: "It's such an honor to have that. I think it will be great for everybody — great for our country... there's no scene like it. There's no site like it... As soon as I looked at that rendering, it's going to be beautiful." pic.twitter.com/Im3lCqzUxq
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) May 5, 2025
The stadium still needs final approval, however:
Zoom in: The new stadium at the old RFK site is tentatively scheduled to open in 2030, but needs to be approved by the D.C. Council.
- It would be part of a massive $3.7 billion redevelopment project that would include the 65,00-seat domed stadium, 6,000 homes and an entertainment district.
- The project was unveiled by D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and the team last week. The Commanders would pay $2.7 billion for the stadium, with $1 billion in taxpayer dollars used to build infrastructure on the site.
Trump even had kind words for Democrat Mayor Muriel Bowser, with whom he hasn’t always exactly gotten along:
.@POTUS: "Not only are these announcements great for the NFL, but they also advance the mission of making Washington D.C. safe and clean and beautiful. We're working very closely with the Mayor -- and we've made a lot of improvements in the last few months... Crime is way down." pic.twitter.com/Yt0BUcG6v2
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) May 5, 2025
I am a huge NFL fan, but I know not everyone is. That doesn’t mean the story isn’t still positive for the pigskin averse, though—the new stadium, the draft, and all the investments surrounding them could help revitalize the city, which like so many of our metropolises, has suffered under Democrat rule and been plagued by crime, homelessness, and urban decay.
It’s a national embarrassment that the seat of our nation’s government is regularly near or at the top of the highest homicide rate list and was once even dubbed “America’s murder capital.”
It’s time to make D.C. great again, and if these moves help jumpstart that, I’m down with it.
This article was edited post-publication for clarity.
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