While other presidents have shown an interest in sports, welcomed championship teams to the White House, and attended games, President Donald Trump has made sports a much larger part of his second presidency than past administrations.
Just weeks after his inauguration, Trump became the first sitting president to attend the Super Bowl in February. He went on to attend more than a dozen other major sporting events this year, spent time with major figures in the industry such as his FIFA president Gianni Infantino, and played golf with athletes like Tiger Woods and Saquon Barkley. Meanwhile, his administration has taken deliberate action to influence the sports landscape, most notably around transgender athletes, college sports, and the 2026 World Cup.
“President Trump is the greatest champion for sports of any president in American history,” White House spokesperson Liz Huston said in a statement to Front Office Sports. “Sports are at the forefront of American culture, and President Trump loves them as the People’s President. President Trump successfully secured both the FIFA World Cup and Summer Olympics, and he looks forward to watching these world-class events take place in the hottest country in the world.” (The U.S. was selected to host both events during Trump’s first term in office.)
Trump’s affinity for sports is nothing new. After flirting with several NFL franchises in the 1980s—and purchasing the rival USFL’s New Jersey Generals—his most notable ownership attempt came in 2014 when he tried to buy the Buffalo Bills. Ultimately unsuccessful, he said in an interview the next year: “I’m glad [I didn’t get the team], because if I bought the Buffalo Bills, I probably would not be [running for president], which is much more important.” He also attended several college football games during his first term as president.
Trump’s other longtime sports interest is golf. He’s developed and bought numerous courses around the world, and his personal rounds this year have cost taxpayers at least $70 million to cover his travel and security.
Earlier this year, the Secret Service provided FOS with some of its expense reports for Trump’s trip to the Super Bowl. To accommodate the roughly five-hour visit, the Secret Service spent more than $115,000 on hotels and lodging services for its agents, and made a roughly $7,000 payment to the NFL for “Pipe & drape and fencing.”
After that, Trump went to the Daytona 500, the NCAA Division I men’s wrestling championship, UFC 314 and 316, the Club World Cup final, the US Open men’s singles final, a Yankees game on Sept. 11, the Ryder Cup, a Washington Commanders–Detroit Lions game, and the Army–Navy game (his sixth time attending).
While Trump paraded around events, his administration worked to enact its sports policy agendas. Following an executive order banning transgender athletes from participating in girls’ and women’s sports, the Department of Justice sued Maine and California over the states’ policies, and has threatened other states as well. Soon after the executive order, the NCAA said its women’s sports would only allow athletes assigned female at birth.
Trump’s DOJ also indicted current and former players and coaches involved in sports betting in the NBA and MLB, two different athlete-involved illegal poker operations, and a computer hacking case. Further indictments could also emerge from a looming federal investigation into sports betting at the college level.
Trump made an executive order entitled “Saving College Sports” regarding college athlete compensation this summer, though that debate has largely continued taking place in Congress. Along with building a task force for the Club World Cup and World Cup, Trump in his One Big Beautiful Bill Act allocated $1.6 billion for security at the World Cup and 2028 L.A. Olympics.
Trump also tried to exert his influence over sports by reportedly seeking to get the Commanders’ new stadium named after himself, and threatening to take World Cup matches or even the Olympics away from democratic cities he might deem “unsafe.”
Perhaps the most surprising element of Trump’s sports-filled year has been his nosedive into soccer. FIFA chief Infantino accompanied Trump on an official visit to the Middle East this spring and the Gaza peace talks in October. Trump was front and center for Chelsea’s trophy celebration after winning the Club World Cup this summer, and said he was gifted the tournament’s original hardware to keep in the Oval Office.
The bond between the FIFA and Trump administration has only strengthened in the lead up to next year’s tournament. FIFA held the World Cup Draw at the Kennedy Center earlier this month, where Infantino awarded Trump the inaugural FIFA peace prize. At the event, Trump said that soccer should actually be called football, suggesting “we have to come up with another name for the NFL stuff.” After the ceremony, a nonprofit advocacy group submitted a complaint to the international governing body saying Infantino for months has committed “repeated breaches” of FIFA’s political neutrality policy, and requested an investigation into the peace prize.
Heading into 2026, expect Trump to continue making soccer—and sports more broadly—a major part of his presidency.
