President Donald Trump will not attend Super Bowl LX on Feb. 8 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, citing the length of the cross-country trip while voicing sharp criticism of the NFL’s choice of halftime and pregame performers.
In an interview with the New York Post published Saturday, Trump said the game was “just too far away,” adding that he would have considered attending had the Super Bowl been closer to his usual East Coast orbit. “If it were a little bit shorter,” he said, “I’d go.”
The decision stands in contrast to Trump’s increasingly visible presence at major sporting events over the past year.
In February 2025, he broke with presidential precedent by becoming the first sitting U.S. president to attend a Super Bowl in person, appearing at Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans.
Previous presidents had limited their involvement to ceremonial roles, such as taped coin-toss appearances, rather than attending the game itself.
Since then, Trump has prioritized high-profile sports events that align geographically with his frequent stays at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida.
He attended last year’s Daytona 500 NASCAR race and this week’s college football national championship, both held in Florida and requiring minimal travel.
In September, he also appeared at golf’s Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black in New York, another relatively short trip from his East Coast base.
While Trump emphasized convenience as the determining factor in skipping the Super Bowl, his remarks came amid open disdain for the game’s entertainment lineup.
The NFL has selected Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny as the halftime headliner, making him the first Latino artist and first Spanish-language solo performer to lead a Super Bowl halftime show.
The choice, announced earlier this season by the league and Apple Music, has drawn widespread attention and cultural significance beyond sports.
Trump dismissed the selection as “absolutely ridiculous,” a sentiment echoed by many of his supporters, who have criticized Bad Bunny’s music, activism and past comments opposing Trump and his administration.
Conservative commentators and social media users have also seized on the choice as another example of what they describe as the NFL’s ideological shift.
The pregame show will feature punk rock band Green Day, whose political stance has long placed them at odds with Trump.
The band has openly criticized the “MAGA agenda,” and during recent performances has altered lyrics to reflect opposition to Trump-era policies.
Lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong has repeatedly voiced support for immigration protests and progressive causes, further cementing the group’s status as outspoken critics of the president.
Trump said the presence of Bad Bunny and Green Day contributed to what he described as a climate of “hatred” surrounding the event, but insisted their involvement played no role in his decision to stay away. “That has nothing to do with it,” he said.
The NFL, along with representatives for Bad Bunny and Green Day, declined to comment on Trump’s remarks.
Super Bowl LX will be the second Super Bowl hosted at Levi’s Stadium, following Super Bowl 50 in 2016.
The event remains the most-watched television broadcast in the United States, drawing audiences that dwarf all other annual programming.
Super Bowl LIX averaged nearly 130 million viewers domestically, with an additional 62.5 million international viewers, according to league data.
