The Philadelphia Eagles are scheduled to visit the White House on Monday to celebrate their NFL championship for the 2024 season.
After Philadelphia’s previous Super Bowl victory, the Eagles didn’t visit President Donald Trump at the White House. Philadelphia owner Jeffrey Lurie has said the circumstances are different this time around, but that doesn’t mean all the Eagles will be at Monday’s event.
At the Time 100 Gala on Thursday night, Philadelphia quarterback Jalen Hurts was asked if he planned to attend the White House event. The former Alabama QB was among Time’s 100 Most Influential People for 2025.
Hurts seemed about to answer the question, but then did not offer a reply.
A player who will be there is running Saquon Barkley. The All-Pro ball-carrier visited the president at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in New Jersey on Sunday and traveled to Washington with Trump on Marine One, the president’s personal helicopter.
The White House announced on March 11 that the Eagles had been invited to visit Trump.
In the face of reports that had preceded the Super Bowl that Philadelphia players would not attend, Lurie said later in the month at the NFL’s annual meeting: “There was no reticence whatsoever. To be celebrated at the White House is a good thing.”
But Lurie also said it was up to players if they attended.
“These are optional things,” Lurie said. ”If you want to enjoy this, come along and we’ll have a great time. ...
“This is really just an invitation to the White House. We’re not politicizing it in any way.”
Trump became the first president to attend the Super Bowl on Feb. 9, when the Eagles defeated the Kansas City Chiefs 40-22 in Super Bowl LIX at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans. Hurts won the Pete Rozelle Award as the most valuable player of the NFL title game.
Philadelphia also won the NFL championship for the 2017 season by defeating the New England Patriots 41-33 in Super Bowl LII. But the Eagles’ visit to the White House ended up being a “Celebration of America” without them.
“There were special circumstances back then that were very different,” Lurie said at the league meeting. “This was kind of an obvious choice. And we look forward to it. When you grow up and you hear about, ‘Oh, the championship team got to go to the White House,’ that’s what this is. And so we didn’t have that opportunity and now we do, and I think we’re all looking forward to it.”
The Eagles’ potential trip to the White House after the 2017 championship came with a backdrop of acrimony between NFL players and Trump over protests during the national anthem in pregame ceremonies.
NFL players had been sporadically sitting, kneeling or raising a fist during the national anthem since former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick started kneeling before games in 2016. Kaepernick’s protest was intended to draw attention to incidents in which law-enforcement authorities had shot unarmed black men without criminal or professional repercussions.
However, it wasn’t until Sept. 24, 2017, that widespread protests during the national anthem occurred in the NFL. On that Sunday, about 180 players sat or knelt during the song, and three teams stayed in the locker room rather than be on the sideline for the performance.
The outburst followed remarks made by Trump two days earlier during a Huntsville campaign rally for Luther Strange’s run at the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate.
“That’s a total disrespect of our heritage. That’s a total disrespect of everything that we stand for,” Trump said of players who did not stand for the national anthem. “Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, you’d say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out! He’s fired.’”
Trump also called for fans to boycott the NFL over the protests.
By the final Sunday of the 2017 regular season, the NFL was down to 10 players who sat, seven who knelt and one who stayed in the locker room during the pre-game performances of the national anthem at its 16 games on Dec. 31.
With a planned trip to the White House looming on June 5, 2018, Lurie decided to send a contingent of fewer than 10 players, including Super Bowl MVP Nick Foles, rather than have players opt-out of going.
But the day before the event, the White House announced it was off.
“The Philadelphia Eagles are unable to come to the White House with their full team to be celebrated tomorrow,” a statement from the president read. “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.
“The Eagles wanted to send a smaller delegation, but the 1,000 fans planning to attend the event deserve better. These fans are still invited to the White House to be part of a different type of ceremony -- one that will honor our great country, pay tribute to the heroes who fight to protect it, and loudly and proudly play the national anthem. I will be there at 3 p.m. with the United States Marine Band and the United States Army Chorus to celebrate America.
