‘It’s crazy for teams to deal with that’: Frustrating presidential policy sparks reactions before Donald Trump appearance

United States President Donald Trump is set to attend Saturday afternoon’s showdown between the Tennessee Volunteers and the Texas Longhorns in Knoxville. It’s widely known that the president’s attendance at any public event causes a lot of logistical challenges, but it’s safe to say that not many people knew about how Trump’s appearance could directly impact the game itself.

As the Longhorns prepare for the road showdown with Tennessee, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian gave some rather unique insight into one of the challenges that come along with Trump attending games, and the sports media world was stunned by his revelations.

Impacts to Communications

During his Thursday press conference, Sarkisian revealed that this actually is not the first time that he will be involved in a game that Trump has attended. Sarkisian was the offensive coordinator at Alabama under Nick Saban when Trump attended the College Football Playoff National Championship following the 2017 season.

Given this experience, Sarkisian has some unique insight that he was able to share.

Sarkisian revealed that whenever the president moves throughout the stadium, all communication throughout the stadium has to be shut down, including the communication between the coordinators in the booth and the sideline as well as the in-helmet comms for the players.

“One thing we have to be aware of is when the President goes to a game, any time he enters, leaves or changes locations within the stadium, they cut all communication,” Sarkisian said during his Thursday Zoom press availability, via 247Sports. “They cut all communication, so they cut your headsets to coaches and they cut headsets with coach-to-player communication.”

Sarkisian added that this can happen without any warning, even for something simple like the president using the restroom.

“So, you have to have a plan for that, if and or when it happens and you don’t get any warning,” Sarkisian said. “It just cuts out. So, you have to have a plan for that and adjust. If he comes in the middle of the first quarter and leaves in the fourth quarter or if he decides use the restroom, whatever it is, you have to be prepared for that.”

Sarkisian went on to reveal that the Miami Hurricanes and the Indiana Hoosiers actually had to deal with these issues during the national championship game.

‘That’s actually kind of wild’

Needless to say, Sarkisian’s revelation seemingly caught the sports world off guard, as several high-profile sports commentators, analysts, and personalities had no idea that this was even an issue.

“Have to admit, didn’t know this one…” wrote former ESPN star Gene Wojciechowski.

“I did not realize football helmet communication gets shut off if the president gets up to go to the bathroom,” wrote Chris Vianni of The Athletic.

“So if the president decides to go pee during an important 3rd down or a late offensive possession the comms go out and they have to signal in the plays? Seems like a big deal,” wrote Geoff Schwartz of Fox Sports.

“I get why that’s in place, but it’s CRAZY for teams to deal with that. Wonder how the Lions/Commanders navigated that last year,” wrote Detroit Lions beat writer Jeremy Reisman of Pride of Detroit.

“That’s actually kind of wild,” wrote NFL insider Albert Breer.

“It’s gotta be like using your phone on the NYC subway with this president’s bladder,” joked broadcaster and journalist Master Tesfatsion of Bleacher Report and Amazon Prime Video.

It’s certainly a unique challenge. We’ll have to see whether or not it comes into play on Saturday.

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