The Los Angeles Dodgers will celebrate their 2024 World Series championship with President Donald Trump in the White House on Monday, starting a series of sports celebrations in Washington this month.
The Buckeyes Soccer of the State of Ohio will follow the Dodgers on April 14 after defeating the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the National Championship. The Philadelphia Eagles go to the White House on April 28.
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The Los Angeles Dodgers Campocorto, Mookie Betts, launches at the first base for an exit against the Philadelphia on April 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Laurence Kesterson)
The planned visits seem to indicate a calm of the tensions between the athletes and the president. Trump rescinded the Eagles White House invitation in 2018 after a return and back controversy between him and the NFL players about kneeling through the national anthem as an acceptable form of protest against racial injustice. As the rumors turned if the Eagles would go this year, the team confirmed in February that they would accept an invitation.
The relationship between athletes and Trump has been heated, which became evident during the presidential campaign last year. MLB and NFL players along with UFC fighters emulated Trump’s dance movements in the field. The 49ers star, Nick Bosa, even showed a “Make America Great Again” hat after a game. The president has also been seen routinely at the University Soccer Games, welcoming the golfers in the White House and playing rounds with NFL players and golfers.
The Dodgers star, Mookie Betts, remarkably changed her tone about whether she would visit the White House.
I was in the 2018 World Series Championship team of the Boston Red Sox that beat the Dodgers. He decided to boycott the visit then, but last week he lamented not to go.
“It’s not about me. I don’t want anything about me. It’s about the Dodgers, because these boys were there for me,” he said, through Los Angeles Times.
“It doesn’t matter what they say or whatever, people will take it as a politician. But that is not what it is. This is what the Dodgers could achieve last year.”
In 2019, Roberts suggested to Los Angeles Times that he would jump from the White House after Trump criticized Roberts during the 2018 World Series for making a launch change.
But his melody also changed, now saying that it is a “great honor” to be able to go to the White House.
“It was not a formal conversation that we had as a ball club,” he said, through ESPN. “It is certainly a great honor to obtain the invitation to the White House. It allows us to celebrate our 2024 championship. To my opinion, each world series champion obtains that honor, so it is a great honor for all of us.”
President Donald Trump gestures while inviting the washington national receiver, Kurt Suzuki, to the podium during a ceremony in honor of the 2019 World Series champions in the White House on November 4, 2019. (Geoff Burke-USA Today Sports)
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Trump made sure to invite the Eagles as well, despite the previous animosity.
“We feel that this is a traditional tradition invited by the White House,” said team owner Jeffrey Lurie, through Pro Football Talk.
“Then, there was no reluctance at all. Being held in the White House is a good thing. There were special circumstances (in 2018) that were very different, so this was an obvious choice and I hop.
“When you grow, and listen, ‘Oh, the championship team had to go to the White House’, that’s what it is.
The Florida Panthers were the first team to visit Trump, celebrating their Stanley Cup title. Matthew Tkachuk spoke brilliantly about the ability to go to the White House.
“Thank you, Mr. President, for having us today. We appreciate it a lot. Being one of the few Americans who loves this country so much, it is an incredible day for me. You wake up every day really grateful to be American. Then, thank you,” he said.
Tkachuk then told President how special they were the group of men behind him. Florida appeared in the Stanley Cup final for the second consecutive time last season and could finally overcome the hunchback and win the trophy for the first time in the history of the franchise.
President Donald Trump poses with Aleksander Barkov, on the left, and Matthew Tkachuk with a shirt and a hockey stick during a ceremony with the Florida Panthers to celebrate his victory in the Stanley Cup, on February 3, 2025, in the White House. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
“This team and this group of boys is special,” he added. “Everyone see what we do on the ice, but I have built ties with these guys that I will have for the rest of my life. I am always grateful for these guys. We are champions forever and I will always remember these guys.”
