Donald Trump called the NFL “sissy”. With his usual light diplomacy, the former president of the United States spoke out about the new rule, implemented in 2024, of the kickoff. “Sissy football is bad for America and bad for the NFL. Who comes up with these ridiculous ideas? Luckily college football will stay the same.” The measure was approved by 29 of the 32 owners of the competition and after the first season, last season, a routine play became something more attractive. Return rates increased and the number of injuries decreased. Trump, however, has publicly despised it to the chagrin of NFL officials. It is part of his particular love-hate relationship with American sport.
Who comes up with these ridiculous ideas for the NFL? Sissy football is bad for America
It is not uncommon for Trump to make such comments. For the man who, invited to the Rolex box at the Arthur Ashe Stadium, delayed the last US Open final between Alcaraz and Sinner to the detriment of spectators, who had to endure exhaustive access controls, the same man who attended (for the first time for a sitting president) the 2025 Super Bowl in New Orleans – with prior insults to Taylor Swift, girlfriend of one of the Chiefs’ stars – sport is a business but also a toy with which to let off steam, often without regard to the possible consequences and the multiple implications of his outspoken character.
Trump’s comments surprised NFL executives, especially after the league itself had promoted a minute’s silence for the murder of ultra-conservative political activist Charlie Kirk. A measure that “was bad if we did it and bad if we didn’t do it,” they admitted in the NFL. The gesture was to no avail in escaping Trump’s trampling.
Failed purchase attempts
And he really likes football. In the White House, he has great support for watching games on Sundays from JD Vance, his controversial vice president. Trump tried to buy the Baltimore Colts (now in Indianapolis) in 1980, made a $50 million bid for the Cowboys in 1984 and wanted to acquire the Bills in 2014. He has ended up having more luck with golf courses (he has 19) so as not to lose that magnate profile that always accompanied him. He also wanted to take over Aberdeen, of the Scottish football league, because of his British ancestry.
The pulse with Kaepernick
The NFL has ended up giving him trouble. The most blatant was in 2016 with Colin Kaepernick, who started the trend of kneeling for the national anthem to protest against racial discrimination. “It’s disrespectful, maybe they should look for another country.” And he asked the NFL in 2017 to fire everyone who kneeled. Kaepernick’s case, which became a global phenomenon, served him on a silver platter for a new clash, this time with Megan Rapinoe, a women’s soccer legend and standard-bearer for the United States national team. The NFL, in the Biden era, ended up apologizing to the former 49ers player.
A friend of UFC promoter Dana White and Conor McGregor, whom he endorsed to run in Ireland’s October election, Trump was always a fighting cock. Boxing in the 1980s brought him huge profits after he took fights to some of his casinos in Atlantic City, when he was friends with an up-and-coming 18-year-old boxer named Mike Tyson. The fight with Spinks earned him $25 million at the time.
Attention to the Ryder Cup
Trump, who will be seen next week at the Ryder Cup in New York because he is a devoted follower, and practitioner, of golf,already banned the Golden State Warriors from the White House, NBA champions in 2018, and ended up lashing out at Stephen Curry, an icon of American basketball, and LeBron James, one of the best players in history. “The NBA has become a political organization and I think people are tired of this competition,” he said. The Raptors in 2019 did not go either. The Thunder have the invitation on the table. Oklahoma, where conservatives have won for the past 60 years, is fertile ground.
The NBA has become a political organization and I think people are tired of this competition
The impact of his words on the most popular sport in America is just that, words. Noise that makes it ugly. In February, he had gone further with his election idea to “keep men out of women’s sports”. He passed an executive order against trans athletes and began to withdraw subsidies to universities that hosted transgender athletes. Penn, the Philadelphia-based university, stopped pocketing $175 million in federal reserves for having a trans swimmer. Next year sees the men’s World Cup in the United States and there was also controversy over his presence at some matches during the last Club World Cup. Many Juventus players felt uncomfortable during his visit to the White House.Everything is possible with Trump. FIFA trembles at the roar of the elephant.
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