news-engine

← american_football

'I'm going to get myself into trouble': Donald Trump asked about NFL

· Dave Kelsey · 2026-08-12T10:08:39+00:00 · nguồn gốc

United States President Donald Trump is an avid sports fan who has made a number of high-profile appearances at sporting events over the past several years, including the Super Bowl back in 2025. This year, Trump will again have his pulse on the NFL, but he’s not picking just one favorite. As the NFL preseason begins, it sounds like Trump has his eye on a few teams, as he’s made it pretty clear that he thinks there are “a lot of great teams” throughout the league. ‘A lot of great teams’ On Tuesday night, Trump attended the 2026 Patriot Games at SPIRE Academy in Geneva, Ohio, where he sat alongside prominent sports personality and ESPN star Pat McAfee. During the festivities, which were broadcast on ESPN, Trump was asked on ESPN+, Trump was asked which NFL teams he was keeping his eye on this year. Trump, however, couldn’t pick just one. “Well, maybe I’ll pick a few. I think New England looks good. I think the Giants – I like their quarterback a lot. They say the LA Rams are looking very strong,” Trump said during the event. “But I’d better not get into this too much. I’m going to get myself into trouble if I do.” That said, Trump had a pretty clear message for the NFL about the overall state of the league as he praised the talent and made it clear that he will indeed be watching this season. “I think you have a lot of good teams – a lot of great teams. We’ll see how it turns out. I’ll be watching,” Trump said. Trump attended Super Bowl LIX Trump made history back in 2025 when he attended Super Bowl LIX at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, becoming the first sitting president ever to attend the Super Bowl. Last year, however, Trump chose not to attend the game, citing the length of the travel with the game in the Bay Area. “It’s just too far away. I would. I’ve [gotten] great hands [at] the Super Bowl. They like me,” Trump said. “I would go if, you know, it was a little bit shorter.” Not a fan of the kickoffs While Trump made it clear that he will indeed be watching the NFL this year, there is one aspect of the game that he is not a fan of: the kickoff format. The NFL changed its kickoff format to the new dynamic kickoff ahead of the 2024 season, and Trump has not stopped complaining about it since. “I hate the kickoff in football. I think it’s so terrible; I think it’s so demeaning. I think it hurts the game and hurts the pageantry,” Trump told McAfee back in October. “I’ve told that to Roger Goodell. And I don’t think it’s any safer. I mean, you still have guys crashing into each other.” “The ball is in the air and nobody is moving,” Trump continued. “It’s supposed to be when the ball is in the air, when the ball is played, you’re supposed to be moving. The pageantry of the game is so badly hurt. The NFL, they do what they want to do. I don’t think they’ll change. I hope college football doesn’t change, because the power of the kickoff was so beautiful.”