President Donald Trump is turning his attention to America’s most popular professional sports league, and he has some major concerns about where the NFL is headed.
As excitement builds for the 2026 NFL season, Trump has publicly criticized several changes surrounding professional football. His complaints involve everything from the NFL’s controversial kickoff format to the growing cost of watching games through streaming services.
The president has also weighed in on a much broader issue involving the word “football” itself as American sports increasingly collide with international traditions.
For longtime NFL fans, Trump’s criticism comes at an interesting time.
Professional football remains a major part of American culture, but watching and following the sport has changed dramatically. New rules, streaming subscriptions and international expansion have created a very different NFL experience from the one millions of Americans grew up with.
Trump appears to believe some of those changes have gone too far.
Here are three major NFL issues that have drawn the president’s attention.
Trump’s Complicated History With the NFL
Trump’s relationship with professional football stretches back decades.
Long before entering politics, Trump owned the New Jersey Generals of the United States Football League. He later became involved in the USFL’s famous legal battle against the NFL and expressed interest at different times in owning an NFL franchise.
Those efforts never resulted in Trump becoming an NFL team owner, but his connection to professional football did not disappear.
After entering politics, Trump frequently commented on the league and some of its most controversial decisions. He became especially outspoken during the national anthem protests, arguing that players should respect the American flag and the country while representing their teams.
More recently, Trump’s relationship with professional football has included some historic moments.
In February 2025, Trump became the first sitting U.S. president to attend a Super Bowl when he appeared at Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans.
Washington is also preparing to host the 2027 NFL Draft, putting one of professional football’s biggest annual events in the nation’s capital.
Despite those connections, Trump remains willing to criticize NFL leadership when he believes the league is moving in the wrong direction.
And one of his biggest complaints involves a play almost every football fan recognizes immediately.
1. Trump Wants the NFL to Change the New Kickoff
Trump has repeatedly made it clear that he is no fan of the NFL’s redesigned kickoff.
The NFL introduced its dynamic kickoff format in an effort to reduce dangerous high-speed collisions while encouraging more returns. The league later made the basic format permanent while continuing to adjust the rules surrounding the play.
Trump believes something has been lost in the process.
“I hate the kick-off in football. I think it’s so terrible; I think it’s so demeaning. I think it hurts the game and hurts the pageantry,” Trump previously said while discussing the rule.
He has also questioned whether the redesigned play actually makes football safer.
That criticism could resonate with longtime NFL viewers who have watched the sport undergo significant changes over the years.
Professional football has always evolved. Rules involving quarterbacks, tackling, pass coverage, overtime and player safety have all changed.
But there is an ongoing debate over how far the NFL should go.
League officials have a responsibility to address legitimate safety concerns involving players. At the same time, millions of fans want the NFL to maintain the traditions and excitement that made professional football such an important part of American sports.
For Trump, the new kickoff appears to symbolize that struggle between modernization and tradition.
He wants the NFL to reconsider whether changing one of football’s most recognizable plays has actually improved the game.
2. Trump Warns NFL Streaming Costs Could Hurt Fans
Trump’s second concern could have an even greater impact on millions of American households.
Watching NFL football isn’t as simple as it once was.
For decades, fans generally knew where to find their favorite teams. Sunday afternoons meant turning on familiar broadcast networks, while nationally televised games were relatively easy to locate.
The rise of streaming has complicated that arrangement.
Today’s NFL viewing landscape includes traditional television alongside services and platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Peacock, Netflix and YouTube.
That can create additional costs and confusion for viewers trying to determine which service carries a particular game.
Trump has warned the NFL that it needs to be careful about making football increasingly expensive for loyal fans.
“You’ve got people that love football. They’re great people. They don’t make enough money to go and pay this. It’s tough. And they could be killing the golden goose,” Trump said while discussing the issue.
That concern may be especially important for older Americans and retirees living on fixed incomes.
A household already paying for internet, cable or satellite television may not want to sign up for several additional services simply to follow professional football.
For decades, Sunday football has been an American tradition shared by families across the country.
Trump’s argument is essentially that the NFL should be careful not to sacrifice accessibility in pursuit of increasingly lucrative media agreements.
Streaming companies clearly offer the league major financial opportunities and give viewers additional ways to watch games. The NFL has also maintained that most games remain available through traditional broadcast television.
But the president’s criticism raises a question many fans are already asking:
How many subscriptions should Americans need just to watch football?
3. Trump Raises a Bigger Question About “Football”
Trump’s third concern is much different from the first two.
The president has also raised questions about America’s use of the word “football” as soccer continues growing in popularity in the United States.
Around much of the world, particularly in Europe and South America, the sport Americans call soccer is known simply as football.
Americans, of course, have spent generations using “football” to describe the sport played by NFL and college teams.
The difference has become increasingly noticeable as international soccer attracts larger American audiences.
But changing what Americans call their favorite sport would be an enormous cultural shift.
Football is deeply rooted in American life.
For millions of families, fall means high school football on Friday night, college football on Saturday and NFL games on Sunday.
The word itself is tied to generations of traditions, rivalries and memories.
Whether Americans would ever seriously consider using another name for the sport remains highly questionable.
For many longtime fans, American football is simply football — and that is unlikely to change anytime soon.
Trump’s NFL Criticism Focuses on Tradition and Affordability
Although Trump’s concerns involve very different subjects, two themes run through much of his criticism: preserving football’s traditions and keeping the game accessible to ordinary Americans.
The NFL has become an enormous global business.
League executives must consider television contracts, streaming technology, international audiences, player safety and billions of dollars in annual revenue.
But professional football’s success ultimately depends on its fans.
Those fans include people who have spent 30, 40 or even 50 years following the same franchise.
Many remember watching legendary players on ordinary broadcast television without worrying about which streaming service carried that week’s game.
They remember traditional kickoffs, fierce rivalries and Sundays centered around football.
Modernizing the NFL may be inevitable, but Trump’s warning suggests league officials should think carefully about whether every change actually benefits the people watching at home.
Streaming Could Become the Biggest Issue for NFL Fans
Of Trump’s concerns, streaming may have the greatest effect on the average American household.
The issue isn’t necessarily streaming itself.
Many Americans enjoy streaming services, and digital platforms can provide convenient ways to watch sports from almost anywhere.
The problem comes when fans need multiple subscriptions to follow the games they want to see.
For consumers watching their monthly budgets, those costs can add up.
Older Americans may also prefer the simplicity of traditional television rather than searching through multiple applications and services to locate a game.
The NFL must therefore balance its desire for new media revenue with the convenience and affordability longtime fans expect.
Trump’s warning about “killing the golden goose” captures that concern.
Football became enormously successful because generations of Americans could easily watch it.
Making that experience more complicated or expensive carries risks.
The NFL Faces a Difficult Balancing Act
Player safety presents another challenge.
Few fans want athletes exposed unnecessarily to serious injuries. At the same time, football is fundamentally a physical sport, and attempts to make the game safer can sometimes create controversy when traditional plays are dramatically redesigned.
The kickoff is a perfect example.
NFL officials believe changes can reduce dangerous collisions while preserving returns. Critics, including Trump, argue that the new format changes the appearance and excitement of the game.
Both concerns will continue shaping the NFL’s future.
The league must protect its players without losing the qualities that made millions of Americans fall in love with football in the first place.
Trump Puts NFL Leadership on Notice
Trump’s involvement ensures these debates will receive even more attention heading into the 2026 NFL season.
Whether league officials agree with him or not, the president is voicing concerns shared by at least some longtime football viewers: Are too many traditions disappearing? Is watching every game becoming too expensive? And is the NFL changing faster than its most loyal fans would like?
Professional football has survived countless changes over its long history.
But maintaining its enormous popularity requires more than star quarterbacks, packed stadiums and billion-dollar television contracts.
It requires keeping fans interested, engaged and able to watch.
For Americans who believe the NFL should protect its traditions while keeping games affordable and accessible, Trump’s criticism is likely to strike a familiar chord.
The question now is whether NFL leadership will listen.
