Last year, Donald Trump was the first US president to attend a Super Bowl. This year, he has declined the invitation – and it’s not (only) because of the halftime show.

Donald Trump will not be attending Super Bowl LX in Santa Clara – the US president announced this to the New York Post.

However, the reason is probably not his antipathy towards democratically governed California, but rather a very mundane one.

“It’s just too far away,” Trump explains, adding: “I would go. I got great tickets for the Super Bowl, they like me.”

It takes six hours to fly from the capital Washington, D.C. to San Francisco on the west coast.

In 2027, the Super Bowl will take place in neighboring Los Angeles, which is also about a six-hour flight from Washington.

So it’s not unlikely that Trump won’t be attending the NFL season’s grand finale next year either.

Super Bowl: Trump critic Bad Bunny to perform at halftime show

However, in addition to Democratic California being the home of the 2026 Super Bowl and the long travel time, there is a third possible reason for Trump’s absence—and that reason is “Bad Bunny.”

The Puerto Rican is this year’s halftime act and a declared Trump critic—as is the band Green Day, which is also scheduled to play before the start of the Super Bowl. For frontman Billie Joe Armstrong, Donald Trump and his cabinet are “a fascist government.”

Now, as expected, Trump is clearly railing against the lineup: “I’m against it. I think it’s a terrible decision. It only fuels hatred. Terrible.”

The showdown between the musician and the US president is thus entering the next round: Bad Bunny is no longer giving concerts in the US for political reasons.

Trump, on the other hand, has already announced that the immigration authority ICE will also be active at the Super Bowl.