President Donald Trump made history last year as the first sitting president to attend a Super Bowl. The president won’t be repeating the feat in 2026, but will still be part of pre-game coverage.
NBC To Air Super Bowl LX, New Trump Interview
Comcast Corp (NASDAQ:CMCSA) has the rights to Super Bowl LX and will air hours of pre-game coverage, the NFL championship game and the Super Bowl Halftime Show with Bad Bunny.
Trump recently said he has no plans to attend this year’s game in Santa Clara, California. The game features the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots.
The president has not given specific reasons for not attending this year’s game after going last year, other than a comment on not liking the performers, which may be in reference to Bad Bunny.
While Trump won’t attend, Comcast will still feature the president with a special exclusive interview with “NBC Nightly News” anchor Tom Llamas.
The interview is pre-taped with portions airing on “NBC Nightly News” earlier this week and portions airing during the pre-game Super Bowl LX coverage.
The interview is the first for Llamas with Trump since taking over the evening newscast program, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
While the Super Bowl generates massive viewer figures during the game and halftime show, many people tune into pre-game coverage as well, setting a large audience for this Trump interview.
Super Bowl Interview Tradition
Interviews with the president during the week of the Super Bowl are a tradition dating back to President George W. Bush, according to The Hollywood Reporter. It was President Barack Obama who made the pre-Super Bowl an annual tradition during his eight years in office.
The interview that airs hours before each Super Bowl is often one of the most-watched presidential sit-downs of a given year, according to the report.
Following Obama’s years, Trump mostly kept the tradition alive during his first presidential term. The current president skipped the interview in 2018 with NBC due to a dispute with the network.
President Joe Biden also skipped out on the interview the week of the Super Bowl in 2023 with Fox and in 2024 with CBS. The interview with Fox became a contested storyline of whether the president or the media company cancelled the interview.
Trump sat down with Fox last year ahead of the Super Bowl, an event that he also attended, giving him extended coverage on Super Bowl Sunday.
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