The Super Bowl is always a spectacle, a cultural temperature check. Every year, several notable figures show up at the game. This February, as Super Bowl 60 heads west to California, one absence has been explained by the entity himself: President Donald Trump will not be in the stands on game day.
President Donald Trump Will Not Be Attending Super Bowl 60
In an interview with the New York Post, Donald Trump confirmed that he will not attend the 2026 Super Bowl at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara. The explanation came down to logistics rather than politics.
“It’s just too far away. I would. I’ve gotten great hands for the Super Bowl, they like me. I would go if, you know, it was a little bit shorter.”
From the District of Columbia to San Jose, the closest major airport to the stadium, the flight time is over six hours, before factoring in motorcades, security sweeps, and the kind of careful choreography required when a sitting president attends a big public event. While Trump has traveled farther in recent months, including a roughly 8-hour flight to Switzerland, Super Bowl 60 did not make the cut.
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In 2025, Trump attended Super Bowl 59 in New Orleans, becoming the first sitting president to attend the NFL’s championship game. He traveled from Palm Beach, Florida, to the Caesars Superdome, where the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles battled for the Lombardi Trophy.
This year’s Super Bowl already promises a different vibe. Neither the Chiefs nor the Eagles will return to the title game. Off the field, Trump’s absence will be another departure from recent tradition, especially after he was booed during an appearance at a Detroit Lions-Washington Commanders game last November.
Another reason could be that Bad Bunny and Green Day are scheduled to perform at halftime, and both artists have been openly critical of Trump and his administration, who addressed the lineup directly, saying:
“I’m anti-them. I think it’s a terrible choice. All it does is sow hatred. Terrible.”
Bad Bunny previously avoided touring in the continental United States, saying he feared Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids could put fans at risk. Green Day has also altered the lyrics of “American Idiot” during live performances, replacing “I’m not part of a redneck agenda” with “I’m not part of the MAGA agenda.”
Nevertheless, the Super Bowl will commence at 6:30 p.m. EST on Sunday, Feb. 8, at Levi’s Stadium.
