Donald Trump and the NFL
President Donald Trump speaks during the campaign event for U.S. Sen. Darline Graham on Friday, Aug. 21, 2026 at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
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President Donald Trump has never been shy about sharing his opinions on the NFL. But at a campaign rally on Sunday, he took things a step further, questioning why anyone would want to watch football at all.
Speaking in Iowa ahead of Tuesday’s midterm elections, Trump went on yet another rant about the NFL’s kickoff rule. He called the sport “boring as hell” and even claimed that he skips the start of games to avoid watching kickoffs.
Trump’s Kickoff Complaints
The NFL introduced its “dynamic kickoff” ahead of the 2024 season in an effort to reduce injuries and encourage more returns. Under the format, players on the kicking team line up much closer to the receiving team, cutting down on high-speed collisions.
The rule worked well enough that the league made it permanent. But Trump has repeatedly complained about it, going back to September 2024, when he called it the “beginning of the end” for the league.
Trump was in Iowa on Sunday to campaign for Senate candidate Ashley Hinson, with the midterm elections just two days away. But as he often does, he went off on a number of tangents, including the state of football.
‘Boring as Hell’
After asking the crowd whether he should finish up his speech, Trump turned his attention to the NFL.
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“Well, who the hell wants to watch football?” Trump said, in a clip shared by Aaron Rupar. “It’s boring as hell.
Trump then once again railed against the NFL’s new kickoff format.
“And I hate, I hate that new kickoff rule where you hit the ball, and the people are standing there like a bunch of idiots,” Trump said, referring to the NFL’s dynamic kickoff format..
He went on to urge college football to avoid making a similar change.
“Please don’t ever let Iowa, Iowa State, any of your colleges— the NFL should go back to a thing where you kick the ball, people get the ball, everybody’s running. It is so unglamorous what they’ve done, the kickoff rule,” Trump said. “And it doesn’t help people. It doesn’t help. Hopefully college will never go. What a shame.”
He claimed that he hates the new kickoff so much that he starts the game late to avoid watching it, claiming that the change ruined football.
“I can’t watch. You know what I do? I start the game about 2 minutes in. I don’t want to watch the kickoff. I think it’s so disparaging,” Trump said. “They have no right to ruin football by doing [stuff] like that.”
Of course, a game’s opening kickoff is only one brief play. Most people seem to have adapted, but Trump is clearly still very bothered by it.