{"id":685726,"date":"2026-06-05T09:54:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T09:54:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/685726\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T09:54:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T09:54:16","slug":"wnba-planning-to-wear-trump-backed-america-250-patch-at-all-star-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/685726\/","title":{"rendered":"WNBA Planning to Wear Trump-Backed America 250 Patch at All-Star Game"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tUpdate: Nine hours after this story was published, and after a flood of criticism on social media, a WNBA<\/a> spokesperson sent Sportico the following statement: \u201cLike other major sports leagues, we are exploring how best to commemorate the country\u2019s 250th anniversary. Nothing has been finalized at this time.\u201d The statement came more than 36 hours after Sportico asked the league for comment.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe WNBA is planning to have its biggest stars wear USA 250 patches during this year\u2019s All-Star Game, according to multiple people familiar with the plans, joining a handful of other leagues committed to publicly commemorating the 250th anniversary of the United States.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe red, white and blue patches were unveiled earlier this year by Fanatics<\/a> in partnership with President Donald Trump<\/a>. The league will have the patch added to jerseys during its All-Star Game on July 25 in Chicago, said the people, who were granted anonymity because the details have not yet been announced.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe WNBA was not part of the formal January announcement<\/a> when the NBA<\/a>, NFL<\/a>, MLB, UFC and NASCAR\u2014among others\u2014announced that they would feature the patch on uniforms or the 250 logo in venue during various big events. Many WNBA players have also criticized Trump\u2019s politics<\/a> during both of his terms in the White House, pushing back on the president more than any other athletes in major U.S. leagues.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe semiquincentennial could be a difficult celebration to navigate for some sports leagues, particularly ones like the WNBA with a heavy contingent of players and fans who disagree with Trump\u2019s policies and rhetoric. That will likely grow even more delicate as the planned 250th festivities grow more political<\/a>. The UFC event marking the occasion will take place at the White House on June 14, Trump\u2019s birthday; the president said earlier this week that a planned musical concert on the National Mall should be replaced<\/a> with a MAGA rally after numerous performers dropped out.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tRepresentatives for the WNBA and its players union declined to comment on the All-Star Game plans.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe patches will be featured on athletes across the country throughout the year. The New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks wore them in the Super Bowl, and they\u2019re currently on the uniforms of the NBA Finals. Fanatics intends to also sell limited fan gear bearing the America 250 logo.<\/p>\n

\n\tFanatics and its league partners originally planned to unveil the patch at the White House in a ceremony with President Trump. After the ceremony was \u201cpostponed<\/a>\u201d due to a late January snowstorm, they sent out a press release with quotes from NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, NBA commissioner Adam Silver, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred, MLS commissioner Don Garber, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, UFC president Dana White, WWE president Nick Khan, NASCAR president Steve O\u2019Donnell and Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tAll of those original league participants are Fanatics ecommerce partners. The WNBA is, too, though the basketball league was not mentioned. A rep for Fanatics didn\u2019t immediately respond to an email seeking comment on why; a rep for the White House said the administration was \u201cpleased to see as many leagues as possible celebrate America\u2019s 250th\u201d and referred more specific questions to Fanatics. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe NWSL, which is not a Fanatics ecommerce partner, is not planning wear the USA 250 patches, according to someone familiar with the matter. Instead, the league is considering other various options to celebrate the nation\u2019s 250th anniversary when it returns to play in July after its break for the men\u2019s World Cup.<\/p>\n

\n\tA number of prominent WNBA athletes past and present have vocally opposed Trump\u2019s policies and his administration for at least a decade. During Trump\u2019s first term, WNBA players initiated widespread protests<\/a> in 2017 during the playing of the national anthem in response to police brutality, as Trump lashed out at athletes for taking that stance.<\/p>\n

\n\tThree years later, Trump and many of the league\u2019s stars clashed over Black Lives Matter protests in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd. When Atlanta Dream co-owner and incumbent Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler, a Republican, echoed Trump\u2019s opposition to the movement, members of her team actively campaigned<\/a> against her reelection bid. She lost, and later she sold her stake in the franchise.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Seattle Storm franchise endorsed Joe Biden in the 2020 election. A number of New York Liberty players wore T-shirts<\/a> in support of Kamala Harris\u2019 2024 presidential bid.<\/p>\n

\n\tEarlier this year, after two U.S. citizens were killed by ICE agents in Minnesota, two-time WNBA MVP Breanna Stewart brought an \u201cAbolish ICE\u201d sign onto the court for intro at an Unrivaled game. A few weeks later New York Liberty guard Natasha Cloud said Trump\u2019s missile strikes on Iran were \u201cgrounds for impeachment<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t(This story has been updated in the third paragraph to clarify details around the America 250 January announcement.) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Update: Nine hours after this story was published, and after a flood of criticism on social media, a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":685727,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[12,38933,298111,355,349,99,434],"class_list":["post-685726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-donald-trump","tag-fanatics","tag-michael-rubin","tag-nba","tag-nfl","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/685726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=685726"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/685726\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/685727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=685726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=685726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=685726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}