NEW ORLEANS — President Donald Trump plans on attending the NFL’s Super Bowl on Sunday in New Orleans between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles, a White House official confirmed to Spectrum News.

He will be the first sitting president to attend the Super Bowl, the most widely watched single event in the United States each year. Trump is also scheduled to sit for an interview with Fox News' Bret Baier as part of the network's pregame programming, which is set to be taped from Florida before the game.

Trump, who frequently attended prominent UFC fights and football games on the campaign trail and after the election, will attend Super Bowl 59 just over a month after a terrorist drove a truck through a Bourbon Street crowd on New Year’s Day, killing 14 and injuring dozens. Local, state, federal and NFL officials, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, told reporters in New Orleans on Monday that there are no credible threats to the game and that security plans had been enhanced in the aftermath of the attack.

Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesman for the Secret Service, said Tuesday that security measures at the game have been “enhanced this year, given that this will be the first time a sitting President of the United States will attend the event.”

Guglielmi says the Secret Service has been “on the ground for days” working with the NFL and other law enforcement agencies to prepare for the president’s visit.

Having alternated being a fan and a critic of the NFL during his public life, Trump aspired to buy the Buffalo Bills franchise in 2014 after considering buying multiple franchises during the 1980s and purchasing a short-lived New Jersey team in the now-defunct United States Football League. But he also made criticism of player protests against racial inequality that began with San Francisco 49ers Colin Kaepernick central to his 2016 campaign and early years of his first term.

On Monday, during his annual pre-Super Bowl news conference, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell stood by the league’s diversity policies and said it would keep them in place as Trump wages his war against diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives on the federal level. But on Tuesday, The Athletic reported that the field at New Orleans' Superdome will not feature the “End Racism” slogan that has been a staple of Super Bowls since 2021. Instead, the outlet reported that “Choose Love” and “It Takes All of Us” will be stenciled on the back of the field’s end zones.  

“We felt it was an appropriate statement for what the country has collectively endured, given recent tragedies, and can serve as an inspiration,” NFL spokesperson Brian McCarthy told The Athletic, citing the New Orleans attack, the Los Angeles-area wildfires and the fatal collision between a passenger plane and a military helicopter in the Washington, D.C., area. 

Other notable people expected to attend the Super Bowl include pop superstar Taylor Swift, who endorsed Trump’s opponents in the 2020 and 2024 presidential elections. Her boyfriend Travis Kelce is a Pro Bowl tight end for the Chiefs. And Kendrick Lamar, who was critical of Trump during his first term, is scheduled to perform at the halftime show one week after winning five Grammys for his diss track “Not Like Us.” 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.