Donald Trump is not going to the Super Bowl on Sunday because aides warned him the crowd would not welcome him kindly to the stadium, a new report claims.
The President said last month he wouldn’t be going to the NFL’s championship game in Santa Clara, California because it’s ‘just too far away.’
‘I would go if, you know, it was a little bit shorter,’ he told the New York Post.
But the real reason, sources now tell progressive outlet Zeteo, is that Trump heard from advisers and officials that the crowd would heckle him at the Bay Area stadium home to the San Francisco 49ers.
One White House official said Trump’s chances of getting booed were ‘big league’, and four people familiar with the situation said the administration was worried about the slew of video clips and media coverage the scene would undeniably attract.
It would be ‘another thing we don’t want right now,’ a Trump adviser told the outlet on wanting to avoid such a viral moment.
Trump’s absence from the big game comes as his approval rating is plummeting amid outrage over the administration’s deadly immigration crackdown in Minneapolis and sticky inflation that continues to hammer families at the grocery store.
The White House did not respond to the Daily Mail’s request for comment on the reporting.
Last year Donald Trump became the first sitting president to attend the Super Bowl (pictured) – but this year he’s skipping it as sources say advisers were worried he would be booed
Super Bowl 60 will take place in the Bay Area Democratic-stronghold of Northern California. The Seattle Seahawks are facing off with the New England Patriots at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California – home to the San Francisco 49ers – on Sunday, February 8, 2026
Reached for comment on Tuesday by Zeteo, White House spokesperson Davis Ingle insisted that if Trump ‘did attend the Super Bowl, he would receive a warm welcome because America knows he has done more to help this country than any other president in history.’
Trump attended last year’s Super Bowl in New Orleans, Louisiana less than a month after becoming president again. He received a mixed review of boos and cheers.
In the 12 months since the Philadelphia Eagles beat the Kansas City Chiefs Trump’s approval rating has dramatically dropped.
Exclusive Daily Mail polling conducted by JL Partners shows the president with 45 percent approval at the end of January compared to 54 percent he reached at the start of the first year of his second term.
Trump’s policies remain divisive, the economy is a brutal sticking point with Americans for this administration and massive protests have ensued rebuking his agenda – mainly on immigration enforcement.
Just last month the president also received a mixed welcome from the crowd at the NCAA college football championship game in Miami between the Indiana Hoosiers and Miami Hurricanes.
He was also loudly jeered when attending a Washington Commanders game in November 2025.
Trump did not attend any Super Bowls in his first term. No sitting president had ever in US history went in-person to the NFL championship game until Trump made history by riding the high of his second election victory and going to the game with his daughter Ivanka and a handful of his grandchildren.
Trump told the New York Post the Super Bowl is just too far away for him to go, but his refusal to attend comes on the heels of the NFL choosing two anti-Trump artists to perform the half time and pre-game shows – Bad Bunny (pictured) and Green Day, respectively
Trump also attended the NCAA college football championship game with daughter Ivanka in Miami Gardens, Florida on January 19, 2026
While Super Bowl attendees are usually wealthy and by nature in Trump’s demographic, a source close with the president said that his poll numbers and the game’s venue is Democratic-stronghold of California gave members of his team reason to pause.
‘Best to stay away from this one,’ the source told Zeteo, adding that ‘whatever [the crowd’s makeup] ends up being, it’s not gonna be a TPUSA speech.’
Super Bowl 60 is on Sunday, February 8, 2026 between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots at Levi’s Stadium in California.
Green Day, a known anti-Trump band, will kick off with a special pre-game performance.
The halftime show is headlined by Bad Bunny, a Puerto Rican artist who is also a very vocal Trump critic.
Turning Point USA, founded by late conservative luminary Charlie Kirk, is holding its own counter-programming to the halftime show headlined by Kid Rock.
In recent weeks Trump has privately complained about this year’s Super Bowl being ‘too woke,’ according to sources familiar with the matter and didn’t like the choice of this year’s music performers.
‘I’m anti-them,’ he told the Post when asked about the upcoming Green Day and Bad Bunny performances. ‘I think it’s a terrible choice. All it does is sow hatred. Terrible.’
