After more than 40 years, former US President Donald Trump attended a National Football League (NFL) regular season game for the first time. On Sunday, he visited the Maryland stadium where the Washington Commanders faced off against the Detroit Lions. However, his experience at the game was far from enjoyable.
Towards the end of the first half, when Trump was shown on the big screen, many fans in the stands started to boo him loudly. At the time, he was standing in a suite with House Speaker Mike Johnson. When the stadium announcer later acknowledged Trump’s presence during the halftime break, the same boos echoed from certain sections of the crowd.
Earlier, after landing from his flight, Trump commented to reporters, “I’m a bit late.” He then proceeded to travel to the stadium in a bulletproof car. “It’s going to be a great game. Everything is going well. The country is doing well,” he added.
Before Trump’s arrival, during the first quarter, Lions receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown scored a touchdown. In celebration, he waved to the crowd in a gesture resembling the ‘Trump Dance,’ a celebration that gained popularity among players last year.
Once Trump arrived, during the third quarter, he took part in an eight-minute discussion with Fox Sports commentators Kenny Albert and Jonathan Vilma. Albert asked Trump about his experience playing football at the New York Military Academy, to which Trump responded, “I played as a tight end, but it wasn’t like today’s football. It was much simpler, not as tough.”
According to NFL records, the presence of a sitting US president at an NFL regular season game has occurred only twice before—once in 1969 with Richard Nixon and again in 1978 with Jimmy Carter.
Meanwhile, an ESPN report revealed that a White House intermediary had informed the ownership of the Washington Commanders that Trump had expressed interest in having the new stadium named after him. The proposed stadium, set to be built in downtown Washington, D.C., has an estimated budget of $4 billion, where the old RFK Stadium once stood.