As a student, Donald Trump played high school football. As a business baron, he owned a team in an upstart rival to the NFL and then sued the established league. As president, he denigrated pros who took a knee during the national anthem as part of a social justice movement. He added to that complicated history with the sport on Sunday by becoming the first president in office to attend a Super Bowl, the AP reports. After flying from Florida to New Orleans, the Republican president met with participants in the honorary coin toss after he arrived at the Superdome, including relatives of victims of a deadly New Year's Day terrorist attack in the historic French Quarter, members of the police department, and emergency personnel.
Trump's appearance at the Caesars Superdome to see the two-time defending champion Kansas City Chiefs take on the Philadelphia Eagles follows the NFL's decision to remove the "End Racism" slogans that have been stenciled on the end zones since 2021. Trump recently ordered the cancellation of programs that encourage diversity, equity, and inclusion across the federal government and some critics see the league's decision as a response to the Republican president's action. But NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said the league's diversity policies are not in conflict with the Trump administration's efforts to end the federal government's DEI programs.
Trump, who attended the Super Bowl in 1992, thinks the Chiefs will win. "I guess you have to say that when a quarterback wins as much as [Patrick Mahomes has] won, I have to go with Kansas City," Trump said in a taped interview with Fox News Channel's Brett Baier that aired during the pregame show. Trump watched Sunday's game from a suite after flying in with a group of some of his closest Republican allies in Congress. In a statement before the game, Trump said the coaches, players, and staff for the Chiefs and Eagles "represent the hopes and dreams of our Nation's young athletes as we restore safety and fairness in sports and equal opportunities among their teams," a seeming reference to his executive order regarding transgender athletes.
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