When the Philadelphia Eagles visit the White House on Monday to commemorate their Super Bowl title, it will be just the latest photo-op for President Donald Trump and some of the country’s top athletes.
Championship-winning teams have been fêted by presidents for decades, of course, but Trump’s athletic engagements have gone well beyond the customary. Since taking office nearly 100 days ago, Trump has been a frequent presence in the sporting arena—literally and figuratively. A week after he became the first sitting president to attend the Super Bowl, Trump was at the “Super Bowl of Stock Car Racing,” leading a lap around the circuit at the Daytona 500. Days later, Trump brokered a meeting at the White House to help resolve a yearslong dispute that has upended professional golf.
Sports have been a major throughline in Trump’s public life, from his tumultuous ownership of a USFL team to his hosting of boxing matches, UFC fights, and golf tournaments at his casinos and clubs. As Trump entered politics, professional athletics became a useful optics tool—a way to draw media attention and warm ovations, a vehicle to drive the culture wars, and a platform to excite his male-dominated base. In Trump 2.0, sports have also served as a barometer for the “vibe shift” that has occurred since his first term in office.
We’ve gone from national anthem protests and high-profile spats—like Trump’s with the Eagles, who were disinvited from the White House seven years ago—to a “Trump dance” craze sweeping the NFL. As presidential historian Timothy Naftali told Vanity Fair last year, “No other president or presidential wannabe has been as associated with sports as Donald Trump.” Below is a guide to how sports have animated Trump’s second term—and vice versa—so far.
Golf diplomacy
Jack Nicklaus once said that Trump “loves the game of golf more than he loves money,” a claim the president has backed up in actions. During his first three months in office, per the website Trump Golf Track, he has spent at least two dozen days golfing. Trump has long been plugged into the professional ranks, regularly playing rounds with some of the best golfers in the world. And it’s clear that the game of golf loves Trump back. “He is, I would argue, one of the best friends golf has,” Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee told Vanity Fair.
Because of all that, much of the sport viewed Trump as a potential savior in the dispute between the PGA Tour and its Saudi-funded rival, LIV Golf. The two sides were at odds for years, as LIV poached some of the biggest stars from the PGA Tour, before they announced plans to merge in 2023.
The deal attracted both regulatory and political scrutiny, but Trump’s victory in November raised the hopes of both PGA Tour and LIV officials. Since taking office, he has been hands-on in the negotiations, hosting talks at the White House involving PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, LIV Golf chairman and governor of the Saudi Public Investment Fund Yasir Al-Rumayyan, and Tiger Woods. Trump appears determined to resolve the schism, prioritizing the matter in the face of other crises. Earlier this month, with global financial markets in turmoil, Trump hosted LIV Golf leaders for dinner at his Miami-area club.
“Why is the world of golf optimistic that a deal’s going to come together?” Chamblee said. “Well, because President Trump got elected.”
Tiger earns his stripes
Trump and Woods go way back, having played numerous rounds together over the years. And like most golf diehards, Trump holds Woods in something approaching reverence. In 2019, following Woods’s fairytale win at the Masters, Trump presented him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
But the past three months have seen Woods become even more entwined in Trumpworld. Along with his participation in the PGA Tour–LIV negotiations, Woods was also on hand for a reception at the White House in February to commemorate Black History Month.
About a month later, and after days of tabloid speculation, Woods confirmed that he is dating Vanessa Trump, the former daughter-in-law of the president. “Love is in the air and life is better with you by my side! We look forward to our journey through life together,” Woods said in the social media post announcing the relationship. “At this time we would appreciate privacy for all those close to our hearts.”
President Trump weighed in on the budding romance last month, recounting a conversation he had with Woods on the matter.
“He told me about it, and I said, ‘Tiger, that’s good, that’s good.’ I’m very happy for both. Just let them both be happy. Let them both be happy. They’re both great,” Trump said.
Man in the arena
Trump has been a frequent presence at live sporting events for decades, appearing ringside (and in-ring) at WWE’s WrestleMania and taking in Yankees and Mets games. In his political career, however, those appearances have become hype sessions for him and his bro-led coalition.
Last month, on the heels of his cameos at the Super Bowl and Daytona 500, Trump attended the NCAA men’s wrestling championships in Philadelphia, where he was showered with loud cheers and chants of “USA.” Trump, who was accompanied at the event by Elon Musk and conservative sports commentator Clay Travis, is no stranger to the world of combat sports. He previously attended the NCAA wrestling championships in 2023 and has long been a fixture at UFC events, where he also typically draws a hero’s welcome.
Earlier this month in Miami, Trump, Musk, and a coterie of cabinet members sat ringside at UFC 314. In what has become a familiar ritual, Trump entered the arena to the Kid Rock song “American Bad Ass” and drew a rapturous ovation.
The champs are here
The Eagles’ celebration on Monday captures the distinct shift in attitudes toward Trump since his first term. During those four years, the traditional White House visits by title teams became a third rail for many players and coaches across the country’s major sports leagues. Following the Eagles’ Super Bowl triumph in 2018, Trump disinvited the team from going to the White House after saying, “Only a small number of players decided to come.”
But after hoisting the Lombardi Trophy in February, the Eagles signaled that they would be up for a trip to the White House, and Trump promptly extended an invitation. (While the team is expected to attend, star quarterback Jalen Hurts was noncommittal when asked Thursday if he’ll be there.) Meanwhile, Trump also said he plans to invite the Kansas City Chiefs to celebrate their Super Bowl win in 2020 “because they missed their turn because of COVID.”
Two other reigning champions have gone to the White House since Trump took office in January. Members of the Los Angeles Dodgers were honored there earlier this month to celebrate their World Series victory—including star Mookie Betts, who passed on a trip to Trump’s White House in 2019 as a member of the Boston Red Sox. A week after the Dodgers, it was the Ohio State University football team’s turn to celebrate their national championship, a gathering that will likely be remembered for Vice President JD Vance’s fumble of the Buckeyes’ trophy.
The invite and RSVP status of the NBA’s soon-to-be-crowned champion will be one to watch. None of the league’s title-winners visited the White House during Trump’s first four years in office, a period in which he clashed with the likes of LeBron James and Steph Curry. Both players endorsed Kamala Harris in last year’s election, and their teams—James’s Los Angeles Lakers and Curry’s Golden State Warriors—are regarded as contenders to claim this year’s NBA title. Oh, and the Warriors’ coach, Steve Kerr, has never shied away from taking aim at Trump, whom he’s referred to as a “bully.”
Where have you gone, Jackie Robinson?
The wedge issues that shaped Trump’s campaign quickly manifested into actual policies, some of which have cast ripples throughout the sports world. His oft-repeated pledge to “keep men out of women’s sports” led to an executive order that bore his promise as its title. The Trump campaign’s staunch opposition to diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, or “DEI,” gave way to a purge of government websites that included last month’s removal of a story about Jackie Robinson’s military service.
The executive order, which was signed in February, bans transgender athletes from competing in girls’ and women’s sports and empowers the federal government to take punitive measures—including the ability to rescind funding—against schools and other institutions that do not comply. It also directs the Secretary of State’s office to “use all appropriate and available measures” to see that the International Olympic Committee establishes its own transgender policy. In signing the order, Trump declared the “war on women’s sports over,” but the legal battle is just getting underway. Earlier this month, the Trump administration sued the state of Maine for not complying with the order.
The removal of the story about Robinson from the Department of Defense’s website was met with near universal condemnation. A Pentagon spokesperson explained at the time that the department’s dismantling of DEI also led to the removal of a story about the Navajo Code Talkers, among others. But after a public outcry, the department restored both the pages for Robinson and the Code Talkers.
Fighting lessons for the feds?
Golf may be Trump’s favorite, but the lifeblood of his political movement is found in the octagon. His ties to UFC span nearly a quarter-century, dating back to when the company was still a cultural pariah. In 2001, with mixed martial arts banned in New York State, Trump hosted an event at his casino in Atlantic City.
Since Trump first ran for president nearly a decade ago, UFC has become its own planet in the MAGA-verse. He is adored by both fans and fighters—including Conor McGregor, who caused a stir in his native Ireland with critical comments about immigration during a St. Patrick’s Day visit to the White House. The president is also extremely close to UFC CEO and president Dana White, who introduced Trump at last summer’s Republican National Convention. (More recently, White was present at the Kid Rock–brokered dinner between Trump and comedian Bill Maher.)
So perhaps it was only a matter of time before UFC began to exert influence on administration policy. In February, FBI Director Kash Patel said on a conference call with agents that he is considering a partnership with UFC to revamp the bureau’s training protocols. Under the program, the FBI would bring in “trainers from the Ultimate Fighting Championship to beef up agents’ martial arts and self-defense skills,” according to Reuters. White later said that Patel, who attended UFC events in March and earlier this month, is “dead serious” about the idea.
The World Cup: from unity to disharmony
Trump’s presidency will coincide with two global sporting events on US soil, beginning next summer with the FIFA World Cup and continuing in 2028 when the Summer Olympics head to Los Angeles. In the case of the World Cup, the United States will be a cohost along with Canada and Mexico, marking the first time the tournament will be held across three different countries. The joint bid for the tournament, in which the first Trump administration played a role, centered on a message of “unity, certainty, and opportunity.”
But Trump’s tariff policy and harsh rhetoric toward Canada and Mexico have threatened to unravel the spirit of comity that helped them land the competition. Trump, who has a small replica of the World Cup trophy on display in the Oval Office, doesn’t seem too worried about the intracontinental strife. The tensions between the US, Canada, and Mexico, he said last month, will make the tournament “more exciting.”
“Tension’s a good thing,” he told reporters. “It makes it much more exciting.”
Whether it will be an accessible event for the legions of soccer fans around the world planning to attend remains an open question. As part of the lobbying efforts to secure the bid for next year’s World Cup, Trump sent a letter to FIFA president Gianni Infantino in 2018 offering assurances that “all eligible athletes, officials and fans from all countries around the world would be able to enter the United States without discrimination.”
But the administration’s immigration crackdown has cast doubt on that pledge. The Athletic, citing multiple State Department sources, reported that there are “widespread fears that a ‘non-insignificant’ number of people who legitimately acquire tickets for the tournament will be refused visas altogether.”
Last month, Trump announced the creation of a World Cup task force that will handle logistics and security for the tournament.
Infantino, who attended Trump’s inauguration in January and was on hand at the White House for the announcement of the task force, has sought to assuage concerns among fans traveling to the World Cup. “America is a welcoming country,” Infantino said earlier this month. “America welcomes the world. Fans from all over the world will come.”
“They will be welcome here. America welcomes the world,” he added. “That’s how it has been, is and will be.”
USA and Canada in a face-off
Relations between the US and its northern neighbor have turned frosty since Trump returned to office. Following Trump’s tariff threats and his repeated references to Canada as the “51st state,” many a Canuck has engaged in one of the few acts of dissent available to the masses: they booed.
At NBA and NHL games held north of the border, the playing of the US national anthem was met with loud jeers in February, bringing an additional layer of spice to the hockey matches between the United States and Canada in the Four Nations Face-Off that month. Ahead of the two sides’ matchup in the championship game, which Canada won in OT, Trump addressed the US players over the phone before they took the ice.
The kerfuffle has placed Wayne Gretzky, one of Canada’s preeminent national heroes, in an awkward spot. Some in the country have been miffed that Gretzky, who attended Trump’s election night party in November and an NHL game with Patel this month, has not pushed back against the “51st state” talk. Last month, a bronze statue of Gretzky in downtown Edmonton was smeared with feces, an act of vandalism that many have attributed to his close ties to Trump.
In a post on Truth Social last month, Trump addressed Gretzky’s silence on the matter.
“Wayne is my friend, and he wants to make me happy, and is therefore somewhat ‘low key’ about Canada remaining a separate Country, rather than becoming a cherished and beautiful 51st State, paying much Lower Taxes, a Free and Powerful Military, NO TARIFFS, and having a Booming Economy,” Trump said.
He added that he is making Gretzky a “‘free agent,’ because I don’t want anyone in Canada to say anything bad about him.”
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