Did the Philadelphia Eagles Reject Trump’s Invitation to Visit the White House?

Did the Philadelphia Eagles reject an invitation from President Donald Trump to visit the White House after winning the Super Bowl?

A British tabloid, The Sun, published an article on February 6—last updated on February 24—alleging that anonymous sources with the Eagles told the newspaper they would not meet with Trump at the White House. The tabloid article included quotes attributed to both a “member of the ownership group” and a “current player,” though The Sun has in the past published unverified and ultimately false claims. 

“The Philadelphia Eagles declined a White House visit under Trump—for the second time,” the Facebook account for the U.S. Democratic Socialists, which describes itself as “the largest Democratic Socialist organization on social media,” shared with its 1.1 million followers. “Love seeing them stand by their principles.” 

“The Philadelphia Eagles have declined an invitation to join Donald Trump at the White House,” a progressive internet influencer, Johnny Palmadessa, claimed in a post on Threads. “Because real Eagles fans stand with democracy.” Meanwhile, the left-wing activist social media group Occupy Democrats, shared an image on Instagram claiming that Jeffrey Lurie—the owner of the Eagles—had said, “As a team we are declining the White House visit.” The post’s caption encouraged users to “share if you stand with the Philadelphia Eagles against Trump!”

Reports that the Eagles have declined a White House invitation are unsubstantiated. Trump announced Tuesday that he planned to formally invite the team for a White House visit, and no members of the Eagles ownership, front office, management, nor any players have publicly said the team has declined or will decline an invitation. 

Politico reported on February 24 that an unnamed White House official “confirmed … that the [Sun] report is false,” and reporters with ESPN and the NFL Network both confirmed that the Eagles were planning an upcoming visit to the White House. “We would be honored to visit the White House,” an anonymous source with the Eagles told CNN’s Jake Tapper. “It’s one of the things we had looked forward to doing and we look forward to receiving the invitation.” Another unnamed source “with knowledge of discussions” told Axios that the Eagles are “definitely talking about coming.”

Trump was asked on Tuesday in the Oval Office whether he would extend a White House invitation to the Super Bowl-winning Eagles. “They will be, we haven’t yet, but they will be,” Trump answered. “I thought it was a great performance by them, and, uh, absolutely. They’ll be extended that invitation. Trump continued, saying, “We’ll do it right away, we’re going to do it sometime today, and, uh, they deserve to be down here and we hope to see them.” It’s unclear whether the White House has issued an official invitation to the team to date. 

The Eagles were invited to the White House in 2018, during the first Trump administration, after defeating the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII. However, upon being informed that some Eagles players would not attend, the team’s White House visit was canceled. “The Philadelphia Eagles are unable to come to the White House with their full team to be celebrated tomorrow,” Trump said in June 2018, adding that Eagles fans were still welcome for a “different type of ceremony.” He added, “The Eagles wanted to send a smaller delegation, but the 1,000 fans planning to attend the event deserve better.”

The Dispatch Fact Check has reached out to White House communications director Steven Cheung and the Philadelphia Eagles for comment.

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