During the first term of President Trump, his relationship with the NFL was controversial.
He trivialized the severity of concussion in football, even when the competition stepped to reduce the head trauma in the game and suggested that football decreased because it is not as violent as it ever was. The most striking thing is that in 2017 he encouraged NFL owners to dismiss players who were not in front of the national anthem to protest against racial injustice and police violence.
That led to a Leaguewide reprimand from Mr. Trump, with many more players who participated in the protests and even some of his supporters within the NFL, including teamowners, who criticized his comments. After the Philadelphia Eagles won the Super Bowl of the season, Mr. Trump abolished the traditional championship party in the White House when it became clear that most players would refuse to participate.
“They disagree with their president because he insists that they are proud of the national anthem, in the heart, in honor of the great men and women of our army and the people of our country,” he said seven years ago in a statement.
The times have changed. On Sunday, Mr. Trump is expected to become the first sitting American president to personally attend a super bowl. He will be in the Superdome in New Orleans to see the Philadelphia Eagles and the Chiefs of Kansas City as the invited guest of Gayle Benson, the owner of the New Orleans Saints.
He wrote about the game on Friday morning on Truth Social, praised various players and coaches (although none by name) while he also took a shot with the new kick -off rules of the competition, as he did before.
“Two great Quarterbacks in this game. Also an incredible run back and the absolutely best tight end in football (once!). Incredible coaching! If they would only get rid of that really strange looking new kick -off 'deal', which actually makes football more dangerous, they would do everyone, especially the fans, a big favor. Anyway, it will be a great game !!! Mr. Trump wrote.
Most politicians like to be close to football because of the overwhelming popularity and the number of voters they can reach, simply by appearing in a game or next to a star player or coach. Mr. Trump is an out of a bit because his connection with the competition goes back for decades and ranging from ambitious to openly antagonistic.
From the early 1980s, Mr Trump showed interest in buying a team, including the Baltimore Colts, the New England Patriots and the Buffalo Bills. Unable to land a franchise, he bought the New Jersey general from the young United States Football League in 1984. He pushed the other owners to sue the NFL because he tried to prevent the USFL, a spring League, played in the fall. After a bitter test, the USFL received three dollars compensation. The USFL collapsed shortly thereafter.
Mr. Trump – who likes to attend sporting events such as UFC fights and university football championships – was also a regular guest of the owner Robert Kraft van Patriots before he entered politics. When he was for president in 2015 and 2016, he used his connections with the team to increase his profile with football fans. Patriots Quarterback Tom Brady briefly held a Make America Great Again Cap in his locker and the coach of the team, Bill Belichick, wrote a letter for support that Mr. Trump read on television. After he was chosen, Mr Kraft and six other NFL owners each donated $ 1 million to his inauguration of 2017.
Then his criticism and the recoil of the players came. But the NFL is now in a different place than was then. Players no longer kneel in protest. And the competition will not stem the expression “final racism” in one of the Super Bowl -end zones for the first time since 2021, a decision that comes when the Trump administration has been relocated aggressively to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
On Sunday Mr. gets Trump again the chance to speak about football.
“Historically it was a time to talk about unity and togetherness and just to celebrate this wonderful holiday in our national social religion,” Michael Maccambridge, author of “America's Game: The Epic Story of How Pro Football has conquered a nation,” ” said. “It is complicated to let Donald Trump celebrate football, mainly because of his somewhat difficult relationship with the NFL and his players.”
Vice presidents have attended super bowls in the past, but presidents have limited their connection with the game to a traditional TV interview The Airs in the hours before kick -off with the network that the matchup of that year broadcasts. Those interviews, which date until 2009, are a way to achieve a huge TV audience and to convey their love for the game and the idea that the Super Bowl is one of the few events in American life that different groups pulls together. (President Biden chose not to participate in a TV interview in the past two years and President Trump refused in 2018.) In his truth, Mr. Trump noted that he would appear in an interview with Fox before the game.
Mr. Trump is also expected to meet survivors of the attack in the French district of the city on New Year's Day, and the medical emergency workers who helped them. He will certainly be shown on the video screens in the Superdome.
Many presidents, including Dwight D. Eisenhower, have played football and spoke about the game and the NFL lovingly. President Richard Nixon was mainly obsessed with football and sent plays to coaches, including George Allen and Don Shula. He also called to congratulate Shula after the Dolphins won Super Bowl VII in 1973.
Just like other presidents, Barack Obama invited Super Bowl champions to the White House. But he said if he had a son, he “would have to think long and hard” before he had him play football because of the violence.
Three vice presidents attended the Super Bowl. Spiro Agnew, who had been Governor of Maryland, was the first. He went to Super Bowl III as a guest of Baltimore Colts -owner Carroll Rosenbloom.
Vice presidents and presidents have also attended regular seasonal competitions from time to time. In 2017, vice-president Mike Pence went to a Colts competition in his home state Indiana and stood for the national anthem as a counterpoint for Colin Kaepernick and other players who kneel while playing “The Star-Spangled Banner”.
In October, during the campaign, Mr Trump attended a competition between the Jets and the Steelers in Pittsburgh.
However, the Super Bowl on Sunday will have a much larger audience, with more than 100 million viewers in the United States and many millions more abroad.
