Donald Trump has once again hit out at the NFL’s new kickoff rule, demanding that the league’s bosses axe the “terrible, ugly” new format that he witnessed earlier this season
Donald Trump has called for the NFL to scrap its new kickoff rule, which was introduced in the 2024 season.
A keen football enthusiast who nearly became the owner of the Buffalo Bills in 2014, Trump has expressed his dislike for the new rules – which see players line up just five yards apart and forbid them from moving until the ball is received – on several occasions.
“I think it’s terrible. What are they doing? I think it’s ugly, it doesn’t look like football,” he said in an appearance on the ‘Bussin with the Boys’ podcast not long ago. Trump also brought up the new kickoff format just days before beating Kamala Harris in the November 5 U.S. presidential election.
Speaking about his race against the Democratic leader, he said: “We’re starting 15 yards off the field, we’re not starting from the 20… And speaking of football, maybe we can get the NFL to drop that ridiculous kickoff setting… I mean, what the hell are they doing?”
The Republican had attended a Pittsburgh Steelers game before making the remarks at one of his rallies. “I watched it the other day, they kicked off and nobody moved! What is that?!” he continued.
This week, Trump took to Truth Social to once again express his dissatisfaction with the rule. “The NFL should get rid of the ridiculous new Kickoff rule!” he wrote.
The new kickoff format, dubbed “dynamic kickoff,” was agreed upon by a majority of NFL teams in an effort to boost the kickoff return rate while still prioritizing player safety. Now, players cannot move until the ball is caught or lands in the endzone.
If the returner opts to catch the ball without returning it, offenses now start at the 30-yard line rather than the 25 and 20-yard lines as it was the case in recent years.
