Sports
Trump to preside over historic sporting events: Which teams and stars could skip White House visits?
Donald Trump’s second term will be a historic four years for sports.
The entire world will turn its eyes to the U.S. as it hosts a World Cup and a Summer Olympics in a single presidential term.
And for sports in America, Trump’s controversial standing among many of the country’s biggest stars and figures could burn even hotter than it did four years ago.
Here’s a look at all the sports history that will come under a political and global microscope with Trump in the White House over the next four years.
The first college football national champion White House visit of the expanded playoff era
Donald Trump waves to the crowd at Bryant-Denny Stadium during the Alabama-Georgia game in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Sept. 28, 2024. (Gary Cosby Jr.-Imagn Images)
The 2024 college football season is the first in history with a 12-team playoff, and the first with a massive realignment in the sport’s most prominent conferences after a mass exodus of programs from the Pac-12.
The first official championship will technically take place just days before Trump is inaugurated in January, but the champions’ White House visit will be one of the first of Trump’s second term.
Trump should expect respect from the sport’s coaches and stars. During Trump’s first term, and even during his recent campaign, college football has been the sport to embrace Trump the most unanimously in the U.S. His appearances at games, including multiple Army-Navy games in his first term and a Georgia-Alabama game in September, were met with rousing applause.
No college football national champion skipped a White House visit during Trump’s first term. Meanwhile, Georgia skipped a visit to President Biden’s White House in 2023.
And no notable college football coach has spoken out against Trump publicly, while many have spoken positively about the next president.
With 12 teams now in the college football playoff, it’s possible that in the next three years Trump’s White House could host the lowest-ranked team to ever win the national title, a potential American underdog story.
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Trump infamously declined to invite several major women’s basketball championship teams to the White House during his first term, including every WNBA champion.
Among those were the 2017 women’s college basketball champion South Carolina Gamecocks, the 2017 WNBA champion Minnesota Lynx and the 2018 women’s college basketball champion Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The 2018 WNBA champion Seattle Storm were not invited but made it clear they would not have attended the ceremony if they had.
The one time Trump’s White House ever hosted a women’s basketball team was the 2019 national champion Baylor Bears.
Angel Reese of LSU, right, and Caitlin Clark of Iowa (Maddie Meyer/Getty Images/File)
The reigning WNBA champion New York Liberty would be scheduled to visit Trump’s White House in May. However, it is possible they will not be invited or might not even attend if they are invited. Liberty star Breanna Stewart has been an activist for left-wing values and joined the protests against Trump’s travel ban in January 2017, shortly after he took office the first time.
Meanwhile, 22-year-old superstar Caitlin Clark has brought a significant new spotlight to the sport since Trump was last in office, and Trump himself has complimented Clark and suggested she is underpaid during an interview on the “Let’s Go!” podcast.
“She’s incredible, by the way,” Trump then said of Clark. “I’ve watched her. I think she’s incredible. The shot – I watch her shot go in, it’s like, could she shoot that way in the NBA? She’s unbelievable.”
It’s possible that Clark will lead the Indiana Fever to an WNBA title in the next three years, considering the rookie star led the team back to the playoffs for the first time in eight seasons. If that happens, then whether Clark and her teammates attend a Trump White House visit will be a cornerstone moment in the history of the WNBA and the future of its audience.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup
Trump will present the 2026 World Cup trophy after the final at MetLife Stadium in 2026. It was Trump’s first administration that made the bid to host the 2026 World Cup, and now he will preside over it when it happens.
However, that deal was initially agreed upon with the understanding that Trump wouldn’t be president when the event took place amid concerns over the controversy he stirred in the global community. In a meeting with FIFA President Gianni Infantino at the White House in August 2018, Trump didn’t factor in the possibility of losing the 2020 election, which opened the door for him to run again four years later and thus return to office in time for the 2026 World Cup.
“2026, I won’t be here,” Trump said at the time, per the Associated Press.
Infantino nevertheless used his Instagram account to congratulate Trump even before his election victory early on Nov. 6. Infantino also recently moved to Miami, 70 miles south of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. FIFA even seems to have an open line of communication with Trump to talk through potential challenges, such as Iran’s probable qualification for the men’s World Cup and the political implications it may bring.
Whether the players on the field are as receptive to Trump in two years is a different question. But Trump may be spared an awkward trophy interaction with one of soccer’s biggest stars, based on past interactions, if one of the sport’s powerhouse countries prevails.
France superstar Kylian Mbappé, who led his country to the final for the second straight time in 2022 before losing to Lionel Messi and Argentina, once posed with Trump’s daughter and son-in-law; Mbappé posed for a photo with Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, and the French star even put his arms around Trump’s grandchildren in the photo.
However, Mbappé also went out of his way to speak out against his country’s right-wing presidential candidate, Marine Le Pen, in France’s election this year. Mbappé criticized Le Pen for her anti-immigration stances.
Mbappé may well be the biggest star in all of soccer in 2026 at his current pace.
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The Kansas City Chiefs could be in the last leg of their quest for a third straight Super Bowl when Trump is inaugurated in January. The Chiefs are currently undefeated and have the best odds in the league to make the big game.
If they pull it off, it would also earn the team its first Trump White House visit. They couldn’t make it during the summer of 2020 thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. Their last two championships have resulted in trips to Biden’s White House, where all notable players except for kicker Harrison Butker attended.
But tight end Travis Kelce would have his own dilemma if his team gets the job done and gets invited to Trump’s White House. Kelce’s girlfriend, pop star Taylor Swift, endorsed Trump’s Democrat opponent, Vice President Harris, in the recent election, and she has endorsed Democrats since 2018. But Swift’s endorsement of Harris prompted a hostile response from Trump himself when he wrote, “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT” on his Truth Social platform in September.
Kelce has not spoken about politics or the election at all in this year’s cycle. He was previously criticized by Aaron Rodgers for endorsing a Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.
Meanwhile, family members of Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes showed support for Trump in the recent election cycle. Mahomes’ mother officially endorsed Trump, and his wife, Brittany, liked multiple posts and comments on social media in support of Trump.
The Chiefs are the active dynasty of the NFL, and that could easily continue into Trump’s presidency, along with awkward White House invitations.
The only two NFL teams to get invitations to Trump’s White House during his first term were the New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles. The Patriots accepted both invitations in 2017 and 2019. The Eagles’ visit was canceled, and the team released a statement saying it was in relation to Trump’s stance on players standing for the national anthem.
The Eagles are another team that could be in regular contention to win the Super Bowl throughout the rest of Trump’s second term, and if they do, a second White House invitation could incite a national controversy as it did the first time.
The 2028 Los Angeles Olympics
Like the 2026 World Cup, Trump had an active hand in America’s bidding to host the 2028 Olympics. And now he is set to preside over it in the final year of his second term.
However, cooperation with Trump has not been publicly embraced the same way with the International Olympic Committee as it has with FIFA.
IOC President Thomas Bach made one visit to the White House in June 2017 that is part of Olympic lore for how badly it went.
“Pray for our world,” Bach was heard to say on a cellphone call later that day in Washington, D.C.
The IOC has not yet acknowledged Trump’s presidential victory. Asked why there was no formal acknowledgment of Trump’s win last week, the IOC cited its tradition of neutrality and not taking political sides, according to the AP.
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Potential conflict between Trump and the IOC could arise over the issue of gender eligibility for athletes in women’s sports. Trump has pledged to ban trans athletes in women’s sports as part of his presidency, and he spoke out against the inclusion of boxers Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting. Both of those boxers failed gender eligibility tests for previous international competitions.
However, the IOC has defended the inclusion of the boxers. More cases could arise by 2028; the United Nations says nearly 900 biological females have fallen short of the podium because they were beaten out by trans athletes.
The NBA at the twilight of LeBron James and Steph Curry’s careers
Not a single NBA champion attended a Trump White House visit during his first term.
LeBron James and Stephen Curry, the two players who dominated those four years, have lambasted Trump on multiple occasions while endorsing Democrat candidates. They both endorsed Hillary Clinton in 2016, Biden in 2020 and Harris in 2024.
But both players are now coming to the end of their careers, and whether they will even have the opportunity to decline a Trump White House visit is no guarantee.
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The Atlanta Falcons did not have to do much thinking about their future when their season ended Sunday.
The team did not even wait for Black Monday, as it fired head coach Raheem Morris and general manager Terry Fontenot on Sunday night.
The Falcons hired Morris ahead of the 2024 season, selecting him over candidates such as Bill Belichick, Mike Vrabel, Jim Harbaugh, Mike Macdonald and Ben Johnson.
Atlanta Falcons head coach Raheem Morris on the sideline against the New Orleans Saints in the second quarter at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. (Brett Davis/Imagn Images)
But Morris’ results were not what the Falcons wanted, going 8-9 in back-to-back seasons.
“I have great personal affinity for both Raheem and Terry and appreciate their hard work and dedication to the Falcons, but I believe we need new leadership in these roles moving forward,” owner Arthur Blank said in a statement. “The decision to move away from people who represent the organization so well and have a shared commitment to the values that are important to the organization is not an easy one, but the results on the field have not met our expectations or those of our fans and leadership. I wish Raheem and Terry the absolute best in their future pursuits.”
Wildly enough, the team’s record is the same as the division champion Carolina Panthers’, so the Falcons were just one win away from making the playoffs for the first time since the 2017 season. One of those losses was to the New York Jets, who would have had the first pick in 2026 instead of the second if that game’s result had been reversed.
Atlanta wound up winning their final four games, but it was not enough for them, or Morris and Fontenot.
Atlanta Falcons head coach Raheem Morris on the sideline against the Miami Dolphins in the first quarter at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Oct. 26, 2025 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Brett Davis/Imagn Images)
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Morris previously served as the Los Angeles Rams’ defensive coordinator, winning a Super Bowl with them. He held numerous roles with the Falcons before going to Los Angeles, including serving as their interim head coach in 2020.
Morris initially replaced Arthur Smith, who served as the team’s head coach for three seasons. Smith is now the offensive coordinator for the Pittsburgh Steelers, who would make the playoffs with a win Sunday night against the Baltimore Ravens.
Perhaps the Falcons are kicking themselves for choosing Morris over several others. Vrabel won the AFC East in his first season with the New England Patriots, Johnson won the NFC North in his first year with the Chicago Bears, and Harbaugh is back in the playoffs with the Los Angeles Chargers.
Atlanta Falcons head coach Raheem Morris, center, stands with his team while wearing an Apalachee High School T-shirt after a recent school shooting there before an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
There should be several names available to the Falcons, who are desperate to make the most of Michael Penix Jr., who will enter his third NFL season in September.
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DENVER — The game was the understudies versus the underwhelmings.
The second-string Chargers against the … wait a second, the top-seeded Denver Broncos only generated 240 yards and failed to score an offensive touchdown?
Such is the AFC this season, filled with teams who flash one week and fizzle the next.
Sunday’s regular-season finale — which the Broncos won, 19-3 — was far more competitive than it should have been, especially considering the lopsided incentives.
Whereas the Chargers were playing for pride and only modestly consequential postseason seeding, Denver’s stakes were two miles high: a free pass to the second round, and home-field advantage until the Super Bowl.
How unsettling that the Chargers could even make the game interesting, having rested 14 starters, including Pro Bowl quarterback Justin Herbert.
The Chargers now turn their attention to a first-round game at the 14-win New England Patriots, who have averaged 34.4 points in the five games since the beginning of December, on Sunday at 5 p.m. PST.
It’s another opportunity for Herbert to notch his first playoff victory. In his six seasons, the Chargers have had two one-and-done appearances — an epic collapse at Jacksonville in the 2022 season and a four-interception loss at Houston last season.
“With the way he’s played this season, this could be a breakthrough,” receiver Keenan Allen said. “Everything we want is still right in front of us.”
Chargers tight end Oronde Gadsden II catches a pass against Denver Broncos safety P.J. Locke during the first half Sunday.
(David Zalubowski / Associated Press)
That’s not exactly true. Allen reeled in two hefty items on his wish list. He needed nine more receiving yards for a $250,000 contract bonus, and six more receptions for a $750,000 payout. He finished with seven catches for 36 yards — jackpot!
“It’s nice to get that out of the way,” he said, smiling broadly.
Allen was one of the few seasoned Chargers veterans to set foot on the field. Watching from the sidelines were offensive starters Herbert, Ladd McConkey, Quentin Johnston and the entire starting offensive line.
So backup quarterback Trey Lance, making a rare start, had a collection of blockers that was even more hodgepodge than usual — and going up against the NFL’s sack leaders, no less. The Broncos came into the game with a club-record 64 sacks.
They got to Lance four times, and although that might be impressive, the Chargers collected four sacks of their own, two by backup defensive lineman Otito Ogbonnia.
“That was dope,” star edge rusher Khalil Mack said of the performance by second-stringers.
Mack sat out, as did All-Pro safety Derwin James Jr., linebacker Daiyan Henley and safety Elijah Molden. All will be back for the Patriots game.
The Chargers have beaten the Patriots in their last two meetings, including a 6-0 win two years ago in Foxborough. This is the first time the teams have played with these head coaches, Jim Harbaugh and Mike Vrabel.
“That’s the kind of game that defines your season,” Harbaugh said. “Our focus and attention is on that.”
Sunday’s game was a foregone conclusion before kickoff. Yes, the Chargers were 5-0 against AFC West opponents, but their primary aim was to stay fresh for the playoffs.
The Broncos, meanwhile, were so laser-focused on securing that No. 1 seed that coach Sean Payton instructed the videoboard operators to scrap the goofy games during breaks in the action. He wanted the crowd thinking about decibels, not distractions.
Denver running back RJ Harvey is tackled by Chargers defenders during the second half Sunday.
(C. Morgan Engel / Getty Images)
From the start, Denver looked on track. On their first possession, the Broncos drove from their 13 to the Chargers’ six, setting up the first of four field goals by Wil Lutz.
Who would have suspected that, after those 81 yards, Denver’s offense would generate only 31 more the rest of the half?
Put simply, Denver is a weird team. The Broncos have trailed in 12 of their 14 wins, and this was the second time this season they won without scoring an offensive touchdown. Naturally, there were incentives Sunday to staying as vanilla as possible on offense as not to reveal more to future opponents, although this is a team that already has put 17 games on video.
This game was either an offensive stinker or a defensive masterpiece, depending on your perspective.
Both quarterbacks led their team in rushing. Lance completed 20 of 44 passes for 136 yards with an interception. Denver’s Bo Nix was 14 of 23 for 141 yards.
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Top Milwaukee Brewers prospect Frank Cairone was hospitalized after being involved in a serious car accident near his New Jersey home on Friday, the team announced.
“Frank is currently being cared for at a hospital in New Jersey with the support of his family,” read a statement from the team, via MLB.com. “The Brewers’ thoughts and prayers are with Frank and his family during his difficult time.”
Pitcher Frank Cairone (left) with Green Valley High School (NV) infielder Caden Kirby during the MLB Draft Combine high school baseball game at Chase Field. (Mark J. Rebilas/Imagn Images)
The left-handed pitcher turned 18 this past September. He was drafted out of Delsea Regional High School in Franklinville, N.J. at No. 68 overall in the 2025 Draft.
News of the Brewers’ young prospect’s accident came shortly after the team announced it was not in contact with several players in Venezuela after U.S. military strikes in the country and the capture of its President Nicolás Maduro.
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Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Jackson Chourio (11) is seen before the fifth inning of an MLB game between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Toronto Blue Jays on August 31, 2025, at Rogers Centre in Toronto, ON. (Mathew Tsang/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Brewers president of baseball operations Matt Arnold revealed the team is unaware of the status of the players in a statement Saturday.
“We don’t have much info at the moment but are trying to follow up,” Arnold said, via the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “We know the airports have been shut down but not much beyond that.”
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Pitcher Frank Cairone during the MLB Draft Combine high school baseball game at Chase Field. (Mark J. Rebilas/Imagn Images)
The team’s players in Venezuela include star outfielder Jackson Chourio, infielder Andruw Monasterio and catcher Jeferson Quero, according to the outlet.
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