A day after reports emerged that the Philadelphia Eagles would accept an invitation to the White House, President Donald Trump said one would be forthcoming.
Asked Tuesday at a White House news conference whether the Super Bowl champions would be offered a chance to partake in what has been something of a tradition over the past few decades, Trump replied: “They will be [invited]. We haven’t yet, but we will be.”
“I thought it was a great performance by them,” Trump said of the Eagles’ 40-22 Super Bowl win Feb. 9 over the two-time defending champion Kansas City Chiefs. “Absolutely, they’ll be extended that invitation. … They deserve to be down here, and we hope to see them.”
The Eagles were planning to visit the White House if invited, a person familiar with the situation told The Washington Post on Monday. ESPN and NFL Network also reported the Eagles would visit.
During Trump’s first term, after Philadelphia won Super Bowl LII following the 2017 season, many players said they would not visit the White House because of his criticism of NFL players who had taken a knee or raised a fist during the national anthem to raise awareness of social injustice and racial inequality.
Less than 24 hours before the scheduled visit that year, Trump canceled the invitation, saying he would appear only with the team’s fans and the U.S. Marine Band and Army Chorus, adding that the anthem would be played. “They disagree with their President because he insists that they proudly stand for the National Anthem, hand on heart, in honor of the great men and women of our military and the people of our country,” Trump said then in a statement.
Trump also rescinded an invitation that had been extended to the NBA champion Golden State Warriors in the fall of 2017.
In the first hours after winning Super Bowl LIX, Philadelphia offensive lineman Lane Johnson said it would be a “team decision” whether the Eagles would celebrate with a visit to the White House. “I’d be honored to go, regardless of who the president is,” he said then, “but we’ll see. It’s ultimately a team decision. I’ll do what’s best for the team.”
Defensive end Josh Sweat echoed Johnson, calling the possibility of a visit “a great honor” while adding, “I’m looking forward to this [championship] parade more than anything.”
Before the game, Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie demurred when asked about the possibility of a White House visit, saying only, “I just want to win on Sunday.” In 2017, amid the player demonstrations that sparked Trump’s public ire, Lurie was reportedly heard on a recording saying that many NFL team owners had “no interest in supporting” Trump, who was described as presiding over “one [expletive] disastrous presidency.”
Johnson is one of just four Eagles on last season’s team who were also on the 2017 squad, along with kicker Jake Elliott, defensive end Brandon Graham and long snapper Rick Lovato. Johnson and fellow offensive lineman Jordan Mailata visited President Joe Biden at the White House over the holidays in 2023 for a project involving first lady Jill Biden, an Eagles fan.
During Trump’s first term, the New England Patriots followed their February 2017 Super Bowl win with a visit to the White House, albeit without star quarterback Tom Brady. After the Eagles were disinvited the following year, the Patriots won again in 2019 but did not visit, although it was presented as a scheduling problem, not a political one, for both sides. A possible visit in 2020 by the champion Chiefs was scuttled by the coronavirus pandemic.
This month, Trump became the first sitting president to attend the Super Bowl, which was staged in New Orleans. In an interview with Fox News before the game, he predicted a Kansas City win while complimenting Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and praising Mahomes’s wife, Brittany, as “a MAGA fan.”