KNOXVILLE, Tennessee (AP) — When President Donald Trump attends Saturday’s Texas vs. Tennessee college football game, it could mean more than tougher traffic and extra-long security lines for fans.
The disruptions caused by Trump’s visit could go all the way to the game on the field, with headaches for coaches and players, Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian said this week.
The Southeastern Conference matchup between the No. 1 Longhorns and No. 14 Volunteers in Knoxville is already one of the biggest games in the country this weekend.
Trump will watch Texas quarterback Arch Manning play for the first time in the stadium where his uncle Peyton became famous.
And what Trump does, and where he goes and when, could prove important.
Teams must be ready to lose all communication on their headsets between coaches on the field and the players “anytime (Trump) enters the stadium, leaves the stadium or changes locations within the stadium,” Sarkisian said.
“They cut the headsets to coaches. They cut headsets for coach-to-player communication. So you have to have a plan for that, if and when it happens, and you get no warning. It just gets cut out,” Sarkisian said.
And “anytime” really means anytime.
“You have to have a plan to adjust if and when he comes in the middle of the first quarter, leaves in the fourth quarter, or decides he’s got to use the restroom,” Sarkisian said.
How a presidential visit can affect radio communications
Trump has attended more college football games than any recent sitting president, and he arrives in Knoxville in the midst of a midterm election season and a heated debate over the role of money in college sports that Congress is trying to resolve.
He has attended national championship games and regular-season contests in the SEC and Army vs. Navy.
He also attended Game 3 of the NBA Finals between the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs in June, went to the 2025 Daytona 500 car race, and presented the World Cup trophy to Spain at the final in July.
And last year, he was the first president to attend a Super Bowl. He left the Super Bowl after halftime.
Headset communications emerged as the latest subplot surrounding this presidential visit. Coaches communicate with each other on their headsets throughout the game and also call in plays to the quarterback.
Disruptions to those communications, from a deafening crowd, technical glitch or presidential security measure, can present problems for coaches and teams.
Coaches involved in last season’s College Football Playoff championship between Miami and Indiana in New Orleans cited that game as an example of how Trump’s movements affected them.
Trump left in the fourth quarter of a tense Indiana 27-21 victory. Sarkisian said Miami coach Mario Cristobal told him Trump’s leaving at that point disrupted communications on the Hurricanes’ final possession, which ended with a game-clinching interception.
Indiana coach Curt Signetti disputed Sarkisian’s version of events around the final drive. But Cignetti noted communications briefly cut off in a key moment of the fourth quarter as Indiana was trying to protect its lead.
In his weekly radio show on Thursday, Cignetti recalled that when Trump left the game “around the 7-minute mark … there were two or three plays we couldn’t hear at all.”
That included a misdirection touchdown run by Miami’s Malachi Toney.
“Communication device came back right after the (Toney’s) touchdown,” Cignetti said. “And we had no problem the rest of the game.”
According to the media pool report of Trump’s movements at the game, the president left the stadium with “with just under 8 minutes left in the 4th quarter.”
The White House on Friday insisted Trump’s departure caused no problems for the teams.
“No, President Trump’s departure from the CFP championship in January did not cause headset or comms issues for the teams,” the White House posted on X.
It’s unclear if Trump’s presence at other games like the Super Bowl have created issues. An NFL spokesman declined comment Friday when asked if league officials work with the Secret Service when a president attends a game like the Super Bowl to minimize any impact on team communications.
Trump’s visit to Knoxville will lead to a big increase in security
For Saturday’s noon kickoff, University of Tennessee officials sent a midweek advisory encouraging fans to arrive “significantly earlier” than for a typical game.
Gates will open 30 minutes earlier than usual to get the crowd of more than 100,000 into Neyland Stadium.
Fans were warned of the Secret Service conducting enhanced screening at the stadium gates and they “should expect increased wait times as kickoff approaches.”
A Texas spokesman said the visiting Longhorns team had not been advised to change its usual arrival time of about two and a half hours before kickoff.
But there will be a treat for early fan arrivals. Spectators who get inside during the first hour after gates open get half-price concessions, including alcohol.
