- Donald Trump has confirmed he will attend this weekend’s Super Bowl
- Trump has been heavily critical of the NFL for years
- The current US President was once told he would never own an NFL franchise
Donald Trump is set to make history at Super Bowl LIX. And it could be a security nightmare.
A White House official confirmed that the US President will be attending this Sunday’s game at Caesars Superdome between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles. In doing so, Trump will become the first ever sitting President to attend a Super Bowl.
Sitting US vice-presidents, such as Al Gore and George HW Bush, have previously attended Super Bowls, but never the Head Honcho. Until this Sunday.
Not only will Trump be attending, but he will also be sitting down for a pre-recorded interview that will air as part of Fox’s pregame show. It is an enormous about turn for Trump, who has been heavily critical of the NFL over the last few years and once feuded with former League Commissioner Pete Rozelle, who is reported to have once told Trump, “As long as I or my heirs are involved in the NFL, you will never be a franchise owner in the league” (Trump unsuccessfully tried to buy the Baltimore Colts in 1981 and the Buffalo Bills in 2014).
Wow, NFL first game ratings are way down over an already really bad last year comparison. Viewership declined 13%, the lowest in over a decade. If the players stood proudly for our Flag and Anthem, and it is all shown on broadcast, maybe ratings could come back? Otherwise worse!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 9, 2018
During his first term as President between 2017-2021, Trump disinvited the Philadelphia Eagles from a White House visit after their Super Bowl victory in 2018. A number of Eagles players had publicly backed Colin Kaepernick for his kneeling during the National Anthem to protest racial inequality. It had also been reported that several of that Eagles team were set to shun the White House visit that year, anyway before Trump released a statement saying, “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.”
Wow. @nfl ratings are down big league. Glad I didn't get the Bills. Rather be lucky than good.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 10, 2014
Trump previously owned the New Jersey Generals during the 1980s in the long defunct United States Football League (USFL) and was the driving force behind a lawsuit the league launched against the NFL in 1986 over a monopoly on Fall TV rights. While the lawsuit was for $567m, the USFL were eventually awarded the grand total of $1 in damages.
One of the main reasons a sitting President has never attended a Super Bowl is because security wise, it will likely be a nightmare. Given the prestige of the game and the heightened amount of attention it receives, there is already an enormous security presence. However, a President attending complicates matters even further, meaning Secret Service will have to be involved with Trump’s detail and further measures will have to be figured out to protect Trump both inside the stadium and on the journey to and from the game.
Following the AFC and NFC Championship games two weeks ago, Trump extended his congratulations to the Kansas City Chiefs but did not extend the same sort of message to the Eagles, likely due to the 2018 incident. So it’s probably no secret who he will be lending his support to during Super Bowl LIX, this Sunday.
