President Donald Trump, center, attends the NFL's Super Bowl 59 game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs on Feb. 9, 2025, in New Orleans. Photo: Ben Curtis / AP / Profimedia
US President Donald Trump will not attend the National Football League (NFL) Super Bowl on February 8 because the game, which will be played at Levi's Stadium in northern California, is “simply too far away”, he said in an interview with the New York Post, published on Saturday and quoted by Reuters.
Trump told the newspaper that he would have gone to the game if the trip had been “a little shorter.” He became the first sitting US president to attend a Super Bowl after attending the 2025 edition in New Orleans.
He has since attended other major sporting events, including last year's NASCAR Daytona 500 and this week's college football national final, both held in Florida, a short flight from his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, where Trump frequently spends his weekends. He was also present in September at the Ryder Cup, the golf competition held in Bethpage, New York state.
Trump told the New York Post that he was unhappy that the NFL finals would include halftime entertainment by Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny and a pregame recital by punk rock band Green Day.
The president called Bad Bunny's choice as the headliner for the halftime show “absolutely ridiculous,” and his supporters slammed the Spanish-language musician.
Green Day has over time released songs with lyrics critical of the “MAGA agenda”. The band's frontman, Billie Joe Armstrong, publicly expressed his support for the protesters against the Trump administration's anti-immigration policies.
Despite the criticism, Trump said the musicians' presence at the game had nothing to do with his decision not to attend.
The NFL and representatives for Bad Bunny and Green Day did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Super Bowl has been the most watched event in the United States every year for decades. Last year's Finals averaged nearly 130 million viewers in the U.S. and 62.5 million viewers internationally, according to the NFL.
