Knicks owner confirms championship celebration invite to White House while Seahawks visit on back burner
The New York Knicks have received and accepted an invitation to visit the White House to celebrate their NBA championship, owner James Dolan confirmed Wednesday. Meanwhile, a Seattle Seahawks visit appears to be on the back burner months after the team won the Super Bowl.
"We just did receive an invitation from the White House, which we accepted," Dolan said on WFAN New York's "The Carton show." "Still have to figure out the details, but, yes, of course, I invited the president to come down to the game, right? He is a friend. I've known him for 30 years, and I'm very proud to bring the team to the White House."
President Donald Trump attended the Knicks' Game 3 loss to the San Antonio Spurs at Madison Square Garden. It turned out to be the only loss for the Knicks, who went on to win the NBA Championship Series 4-1.
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The details of the Knicks' visit have yet to be finalized. As Dolan noted, that includes a date for the trip, the size of the traveling party and how many players will attend.
And while the White House got to work immediately on the Knicks visiting, the Seahawks visit is apparently another matter.
Seattle beat the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LX on Feb. 8, but the team visiting the White House for a celebration is in limbo.
"We don’t have anything to share at this time," the White House press office told Fox News Digital this week. "Check back in with us later!"
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Time is running out.
The Philadelphia Eagles, the last NFL team to visit the White House, celebrated their Super Bowl LIX victory on the South Lawn with President Trump on April 28, 2025. That timing made sense because it happened during the team's offseason program.
Seattle's offseason program is over following the conclusion of mandatory minicamp on June 11. That means players, staff and coaches are off to parts unknown enjoying their summer break.
The next time the whole organization is expected to be together is the final week of July, just prior to the beginning of training camp.
So the best opportunity for a Seahawks visit to Washington, D.C. has passed because successfully rallying players from all across the country and wherever they are vacationing is practically impossible. And no team is going to break away from training camp to fly across the country to visit the White House.
That raises the distinct possibility the Seahawks will not be celebrating their Super Bowl win with a White House visit at all.
If that is the case, the obvious question is: Why?
Did the White House reach out through back channels only to be rebuffed by the team? It would not be unprecedented. A similar situation occurred with the Eagles in 2018.
There appears to be only one way to salvage a Seahawks visit to the White House, if one happens at all: scheduling it during the NFL regular season.
Seattle visits the Washington Commanders on Sept. 27 and that provides a small opportunity for a visit should the team fly to Washington a day earlier than usual, visit the White House, then play the Commanders two days later.
Is that likely? No.
NFL coaches traditionally are not big fans of upsetting their normal travel schedules and portray those games away from home as business trips rather than a pleasure trip — even if a White House visit is involved.