Secret service is saving thousands as Trump refuses to attend Super Bowl but it's not his most expensive event
After making history with a Super Bowl appearance just 12 months ago, Donald Trump has opted to skip the world-famous sporting event this year.
On Sunday (February 8), tens of thousands of NFL fans will pack into the Levi's Stadium to see the Seattle Seahawks take on the New England Patriots - but the US president won't be one of them. The teams last played off during 2015's Super Bowl, where the Patriots edged out the Seahawks 28-24.
Opening the game is rock band Green Day, while Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny is headlining the prestigious halftime show, fresh of last weekend's double Grammy win.
Both acts have previously criticized Donald Trump and increased ICE activity.
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Trump wasn't impressed by their inclusion in the Super Bowl, telling the New York Post: “I’m anti-them. I think it’s a terrible choice. All it does is sow hatred. Terrible."
The Super Bowl's distance also plays a factor in Trump's absence.
Last year's was held at Caesar's Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana; this year's is at the opposite end of the country, at the Levi's Stadium in Santa Clarita, California.
“It’s just too far away. I would. I’ve [gotten] great hands [at] the Super Bowl. They like me,” Trump said. “I would go if, you know, it was a little bit shorter.”
Trump became the very first serving US president to attend the Super Bowl, watching on as the Philadelphia Eagles thrashed the Kansas City Chiefs 40–22 last year.
His very presence cost the Secret Service an eye-watering amount of money - though it wasn't the most expensive sport outing Trump had that year.
How much did the secret service spend on Trump going to last year's Super Bowl?
Front Office Sports crunched the numbers and found Trump's 2025 Super Bowl attendance cost the US Secret Service (USSS) upwards of $123,000.
Some $115,000 of this was just on hotel rooms, according to records the agency released after a Freedom of Information Act request from FOS.
If you weren't aware, the USSS is tasked with protecting Trump and other key governmental figures, as well as heads of state who visit our country.
A USSS spokesperson told FOS that agents tend to arrive days before Trump to prepare the site he's visiting, while Axios reported 'several hundred agents' were expected to arrive in New Orleans five days ahead of the February 9 2025 game.
Altogether, the hotel costs added up to $123,411.81. More than $65,000 was paid to nine different hotels, with three of those hotels charging over $16,000 each.
Nearly $18,000 of the total went to a Margaritaville Resort. The agency also made two payments of about $25,000 each to lodging services and spent more than $7,000 on payments to the NFL.
USSS Director Sean Curran also attended the game, where the agency ran a recruitment ad inside the stadium during pregame, costing roughly $2 million to produce.
The documents didn't include other major expenses like meals, travel or agent pay. So just imagine how much money is being saved by Trump not attending this year...
What was Trump's most expensive sport event last year?
Just six days after the Super Bowl, Trump jetted off to Florida for the Daytona 500, NASCAR's season-opener.
The Secret Service expensed $561,842.63 for the president’s trip there, as per Front Office Sports reported last month.
Newly released documents show the USSS spent $561,842.63 on a trip to the Daytona 500, which Trump attended last February. More than half of that total went toward hotel costs alone.
The expenses covered protection for Trump, his son Eric, his daughter-in-law Lara, and two of his grandchildren. Most of the money was spent on lodging and event-related services.
Hotel stays accounted for $335,448.26, spread across 11 hotels. Individual payments ranged from about $8,300 to more than $75,000 at an official Walt Disney World hotel. Another $213,738.20 went to an event company for items listed as tents, fans and heaters.
The agency also spent $8,832 on a 'purchase adjustment' categorized under lodging or temporary duty.
Smaller expenses included $3,544.18 paid to Daytona International Speedway for bike racks and $279.99 spent at Bubbles Car Wash for fleet management.
During the visit, Trump’s motorcade also drove a lap around the track.
It's something to bear in mind the next time you berate yourself for spending a few hundred bucks on a gig or vacation, anyway...
Topics: Donald Trump, Super Bowl, Politics, US News, Money, Sport, NFL, California
Ellie Kemp