Recent reports suggest that Donald J. Trump, the 45th president of the U.S., will be attending an NFL regular-season game. The matchup in question features the Detroit Lions taking on the Washington Commanders at Northwest Stadium, a place where no sitting president has ever been in attendance. That’s quite a milestone for Trump.
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Looking back, not many sitting presidents have actually gone to regular-season games. In fact, you have to go 47 years back to find the last one.
We’re, of course, talking about the 39th president, Jimmy Carter, who served from 1977 to 1981. On October 2, 1978, he became the first sitting president to watch a Monday Night Football game. Washington beat the Dallas Cowboys 9-5 that night. But still, Carter wasn’t the first president to ever watch a regular-season game overall.
That honor goes to none other than Richard Nixon. On November 16, 1969, the 37th president watched the Washington Redskins face off against the Dallas Cowboys. That game ended in a 41-28 loss for the Capital.
So, that means only two sitting presidents have ever attended an NFL regular-season game, and Trump is set to become the third.
Donald Trump will be the first U.S. president to attend an NFL game at Northwest Stadium. He will sit in the owners’ box with Josh Harris.
— Nicki Jhabvala (@NickiJhabvala) November 7, 2025
Currently, sitting presidents are 1-1 on the scoreboard, though, and we’ll see if Washington can pull off a win and tilt the record in their favor with Trump in the house at Northwest Stadium. Well, not exactly in the stands, since he’s reported to be sitting in the owners’ box alongside Josh Harris.
That box might also serve as a bridge over the recent feud Trump has had with the Commanders. He went so far as to say he’d derail the $3.8 billion stadium plan if they didn’t revert to their former name, the Redskins, which many consider offensive. The team later made it clear they had no plans to change the name.
The name controversy came just months after Trump, Josh Harris, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, and D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser announced that the 2027 NFL Draft will be held in the Capital. The city last hosted the draft back in 1941, nearly a century ago.
All told, if you didn’t know, several U.S. presidents have actually attended Super Bowls over the years. Trump, however, became the first sitting president to attend a Super Bowl, which took place this past February at Caesars Stadium between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles. He was even seen shaking hands with players on the field.
