President Donald Trump said a new NFL rule was the worst part of the Super Bowl this year.
Trump shared the one thing that ruined Super Bowl LIX for him on the social media platform Truth Sunday night, Feb. 9.
“The worst part of the Super Bowl, by far, was watching the Kickoff where, as the ball is sailing through the air, the entire field is frozen, stiff,” he wrote. “College football does not do it, and won’t! Whose idea was it to ruin the Game?”
Trump’s post was in response to the NFL’s new kickoff rule — called the “Dynamic Kickoff” — that only allows the kicker and returner(s) to move until a kick is actually fielded.
The “Dynamic Kickoff” was issued ahead of the 2024 season in efforts to enhance player safety, CBS Sports reported.
“Kickoffs have long featured some of the highest-speed collisions in the sport, whereas the new setup greatly reduces the potential for players to gain momentum before contact,“ the outlet wrote in September. ”Additionally, however, the new kickoff also promotes more returns. In recent years, touchbacks had become so common — and incentivized — that it became rarer and rarer for runbacks to occur at all. Had the old format stayed intact, some believe the NFL would’ve simply eliminated the play altogether.”
It is currently unclear whether the new rule will be permanent.
This was not not the first time Trump has criticized the NFL’s new action. He first called it out on Truth Social in September.
“I can’t believe the NFL is effectively getting rid of the always exciting Kick Off Return,” he wrote. “Such an exciting part of football. What are they doing? BEGINNING OF THE END!”
Trump revisited the same gripe in a post ahead of Super Bowl LIX.
“If they would only get rid of that really weird looking new Kickoff ‘deal,’ which actually makes football more dangerous, they would be doing everybody, especially the fans, a big favor,” he wrote on Truth Friday, Feb. 7.
The Philadelphia Eagles ended up claiming victory Sunday night by defeating the Kansas City Chiefs 40 to 22.
Click here for more of MassLive’s coverage of Super Bowl LIX.
