updated 8:55 p.m. ET April 13, 2005

WASHINGTON - A day before the Washington Nationals’ first home game, it still was unclear what their stadium would be called. One thing seemed certain, though: The proposed “National Guard Field at RFK” wasn’t going to make the cut.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner, R-Va., called the Pentagon to object to a sponsorship agreement for that name, saying it was not a good idea while the country is at war.

“Senator Warner found out through media reports of the Guard’s intention to purchase the naming rights to RFK Stadium over the weekend, and he felt this was not the wisest use of the limited marketing dollars that the Guard has during wartime,” Warner’s spokesman, John Ullyot, said Wednesday.

The Nationals’ debut at what’s been known as RFK Stadium since 1961 is Thursday night. Talks involving city officials and the Defense Department about some form of naming rights deal were continuing Wednesday evening, District of Columbia Sports and Entertainment Commission spokesman Tony Robinson said.

“Certainly, we want to have it done by tomorrow. That’s just irreplaceable exposure,” Mayor Anthony A. Williams said.

Built in 1961 as a multisport arena, RFK originally was called D.C. Stadium and housed baseball’s Senators and football’s Redskins. It was renamed in 1969 to honor the late Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy.

The Senators departed for Texas after the 1971 season, and the Redskins moved to a larger stadium in Landover, Md., in 1997.

The plan is for the Nationals to share RFK with Major League Soccer club D.C. United for three seasons before moving into a new 41,000-seat ballpark along the Anacostia River waterfront.

Workers were putting finishing touches on the concession stands, seats and signs at the stadium Wednesday. The Nationals’ game against the Arizona Diamondbacks will the first regular-season major league baseball game in the nation’s capital in 34 years.

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