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.
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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