Saturday’s SEC showdown between the Texas Longhorns and Tennessee Volunteers is apparently big enough for President Donald Trump to attend, and earlier today, Longhorns Head Coach Steve Sarkisian spoke about how that will affect the game.
The POTUS is a big time sports fan, and he’s been known to attend a variety of different events during his time as the Commander N’ Chief. Trump is a big fan of the UFC (remember… he hosted a fight on the White House lawn), has attended the Daytona 500 and other college football games, and earlier this year, became the first sitting president to attend a Super Bowl.
Which is kind of crazy, right? You would have thought other presidents throughout history would have made it to the “Big Game.”
So it wasn’t a surprise when Sport & State announced that President Trump would be traveling to Knoxville, Tennessee to watch the No. 1 Texas Longhorns take on No. 14 Tennessee Volunteers. The only surprise has actually been the impact that Trump will have on the game because of his presence at Neyland Stadium.
During time with the media today, Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said Trump being at the game will cause some communication issues:
“One thing you have to be aware of when the president goes to any game is that anytime he enters the stadium or leaves the stadium or changes locations within the stadium, they cut all communication.
They cut your headsets. They cut headsets to coaches. They cut headsets to coach-to-player communication. So you have to have a plan for that, and you get no warning. That just gets cut out.”
Everyone knows that any event the president attends is going to take additional security measures, but I doubt many people knew that it even affects the communication system down on the field.
Sarkisian, who has been a part of a game that the president has attended before, went on to say that they’ll have no choice but to be prepared for comms to cut out at one point – or multiple points – during the game. The way he puts it, if Trump gets up for any reason at all, their on-field communications will be suspended:
“So you have to have a plan to adjust, if and or when. If he comes in the middle of the first quarter, or leaves in the fourth quarter, or decides that he’s got to use the restroom, whatever that looks like, you have to be prepared to have no comms.”
That’s definitely something that will impact both teams… but considering the game is being played at Tennessee, it could cause even more issues for the Texas Longhorns.
There was even speculation that, with ESPN’s College GameDay being in Knoxville for the high-profile matchup, President Trump could join the long-running college football show. Though it would have made sense – and would have created additional security logistics for the Secret Service – Trump dropping in to College GameDay is not expected.
But he will be there for the game itself, and as Sarkisian explained, the POTUS will play a role in the game… whether he realizes it or not.
