The Philadelphia Eagles have confirmed they will visit the White House to celebrate their victory over the Kansas City Chiefs in this year’s Super Bowl.
The news was announced by the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, on Tuesday, and later confirmed by an Eagles spokesperson.
“I know there was a lot of fake news about an invitation that wasn’t sent or was sent, we want to correct the record: we sent an invitation, they enthusiastically accepted, and you will see them here on 28 April,” Leavitt said.
The Eagles were disinvited to the White House in 2018, the last time they won the Super Bowl, after a number of players said they would drop out amid tensions over the anthem protests that had swept the NFL. Donald Trump, then in his first term as president, had attacked players who knelt during the anthem to protest against racial inequality. At the time, Trump wrote on social media that the Eagles were in dispute “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.”
In the buildup to this year’s Super Bowl, Eagles offensive lineman Lane Johnson said he would be happy to visit the White House. “I’d be honored to go, regardless of who the president is, but we’ll see. It’s ultimately a team decision. I’ll do what’s best for the team,” Johnson said. In the aftermath of the team’s victory, head coach Nick Sirianni said “we’ll see as we go” when asked about a decision on the visit.
While Trump’s first term in office led to a number of athletes, such as LeBron James and Megan Rapinoe, criticizing the president, there has been little pushback from the sports world so far in his second term. In February, Trump became the first sitting US president to attend the Super Bowl, and his presence was welcomed by several players, including the Kansas City Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce.
Teams who have won a major championship are traditionally invited to the White House to celebrate their victory with the president. However, during Trump’s first-term several teams were not invited or made it clear they would not attend if they were. Those teams included the NBA’s Golden State Warriors, and the United States Women’s National Team after their victory at the 2019 Women’s World Cup.