NEW ORLEANS Donald Trump participated in high school football as a student. In his capacity as a business magnate, he sued the NFL after owning a franchise in a new league. In his capacity as president, he disparaged athletes who participated in a social justice movement by kneeling during the playing of the national anthem.
He became the first sitting president to attend a Super Bowl on Sunday, adding to that complex history with the sport.
Following his flight from Florida to New Orleans, the Republican president met with members of the police department, emergency personnel, and relatives of those killed in a deadly terrorist attack in the historic French Quarter on New Year’s Day. He also participated in the honorary coin toss when he arrived at the Superdome.
Following the NFL’s decision to remove the End Racism messages that have been inscribed on the end zones since 2021, Trump attended the Caesars Superdome to watch the Kansas City, two-time defending champions, play the Philadelphia Eagles.
Some opponents believe the league’s decision is a reaction to Trump’s recent order to discontinue federal programs that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion. However, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell stated that the Trump administration’s efforts to terminate federal DEI programs do not clash with the league’s diversity objectives.
Trump, who was present at the 1992 Super Bowl, believes that quarterback Patrick Mahomes will make the difference and that Kansas City will win.
During the pregame broadcast, Trump stated in a taped interview with Brett Baier of the Fox News Channel, “I guess you have to say that when a quarterback wins as much as he’s won, I have to go with Kansas City.” Trump claimed that Mahomes truly understands how to win. He is an exceptional quarterback.
While attending the New York Military Academy, the president participated in football. In the early 1980s, he was a New York businessman who owned the US Football League’s New Jersey Generals. Trump had filed a lawsuit to compel the NFL and USFL to unite. In the end, the USFL disbanded.
During his first tenure as president, there was tension between Trump and the NFL.
Trump objected to athletes protesting racial or social injustice by kneeling during the playing of the national anthem. Colin Kaepernick, the quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers at the time, started that movement in 2016 when he took a knee during the playing of the Star-Spangled Banner at a Denver exhibition game.
Trump urged club owners to fire any player who took a knee and demanded that players stand for the playing of the national anthem on social media and in other public remarks.
If someone disrespected our flag, wouldn’t one of these NFL owners say, “Get that son of a bitch off the field right now?” Go! At a 2017 rally in Hunstville, Alabama, Trump declared to thunderous cheers that he was fired.
After flying in with a group of some of his closest Republican congressional allies, including Sen. Lindsey Graham and Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, Trump watched Sunday’s game from a suite. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, has previously stated that he would join the president in the suite. When the national anthem was played, Trump gave a salute.
Football isn’t the only sport that interests him. Trump is a passionate golfer who has hosted tournaments and owns several golf courses. Weeks after winning a second term, he went to a UFC bout at Madison Square Garden and sponsored boxing contests at his old casinos in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
According to the White House, Trump and Tiger Woods played golf together on Sunday in Florida.
Trump has relations with former Generals players Doug Flutie and Herschel Walker, and certain NFL team owners have contributed to his campaigns. Walker was appointed ambassador to the Bahamas by Trump, who also supported his failed 2022 campaign as the Republican nominee for a Georgia U.S. Senate seat.
Last week, Trump signed an order that targets federal funds for schools that do not comply with the rule, preventing transgender women and girls from participating in women’s sports.
As we restore safety and justice in sports and equal opportunity among their teams, Trump said in a statement prior to the game that the Eagles and Kansas City coaches, players, and staff embody the aspirations of our country’s young athletes.
In an interview, Northwestern University politics professor and diversity specialist Alvin Tillery called the NFL’s decision to remove End Racism slogans “shameful,” considering that the league earns tens of billions of dollars primarily on the bodies of Black men.
According to him, the NFL ought to clarify its target audience. Following a string of catastrophes this year, including a truck attack in the host city of New Orleans on New Year’s Day that left 14 people dead and numerous others injured, the NFL announced that it will stencil “Choose Love” in one of the Super Bowl’s end zones to inspire the nation.
Tillery didn’t believe it. He remarked, “I believe they took it down because Trump is coming.”
— The Associated Press | Darlene Superville
