Seahawks expect White House invitation

Published 9:30 am Thursday, February 26, 2026

No, the Seahawks have not declined an invitation to the White House.

The Super Bowl champions haven’t gotten one. Not yet.

“We haven’t gotten an invite yet,” coach Mike Macdonald said Wednesday at the NFL scouting combine, “and then we’ll address it after that.”

Speaking off the podium on the floor at the Indiana Convention Center a few minutes after his formal, podium remarks, Macdonald said he expects President Donald Trump and the White House team to extend an invitation to the Seahawks. That is the custom with champions of major professional and college sports in the U.S. each year.

“I would hope so. I mean, yeah…I don’t know. We’re going to get an invite, right? That’s how it works?” Macdonald said. “Not really sure how it works.”

The 38-year-old son of a West Point graduate and former U.S. Army officer was asked if his preference would be for his players and team to go to the White House if invited.

“Yeah, we’ll wait for the invite and work through it at that point,” Macdonald said.

The second-year head coach said if they are invited, the team’s process for deciding whether to accept the White House offer would be as the Seahawks do everything: internally.

“Just, everybody involved. Just like we do everything else,” Macdonald said. “Simple.”

It’s a function of the fractured, highly politicized times in which we live that this has even been a thing. It has been since soon after the Seahawks defeated the New England Patriots in Super Bowl 60 on Feb. 8.

It’s the second time in Seattle’s 50-season NFL history they’ve won the Super Bowl.

The last time was in February 2014. That spring, then-President Barack Obama welcomed owner Paul Allen and the Seahawks to the White House on May 21, 2014.

Multiple, unsubstantiated reports in the last week have erroneously stated one, the Trump Administration had extended to the Seahawks an invitation to the White House and, two, the Seahawks had declined it. Source: Seahawks will attend if invited

The News Tribune has learned this week from NFL sources at the league’s scouting combine that if the Seahawks are invited to the White House they will most likely accept.

Would Macdonald like full attendance if the Seahawks are invited?

“It’s, like, speculation,” Macdonald said. “I’m not going to speculate on it.

“I expect to get an invitation. And we’ll go from there.”