President Donald Trump was aboard Air Force One as it made a low flyover above the 101,000-seat Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee, before the Texas Longhorns and Tennessee Volunteers football game on Sept. 26.
The flyover came about 40 minutes before the noon kickoff of the packed SEC matchup between the top-ranked Longhorns and 14th-ranked Volunteers.
Players for the Volunteers and Longhorns were warming up on the field during the rare moment.
The Sept. 26 game in Tennessee was the SEC opener for both teams, and Texas quarterback Arch Manning played for the first time at the stadium where his uncle Peyton Manning became a football star.
The stadium opened up security early to make sure it ran smoothly and even made concessions 50 percent off for early birds.
Air Force One landed before 11:30 a.m. ET, and the president’s motorcade arrived at the stadium just as the national anthem was being sung.
Trump received thunderous applause when the jumbotron showed him sitting in a suite next to lawmakers, including Sens. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), who is running for governor.
Earlier in the week, Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian suggested that if Trump moved in the stadium during the game, teams could lose headset communication between coaches and players.
But an announcer said on Sept. 26 that both teams worked with the Secret Service to clear their radio frequencies, hoping to reduce the risk of disruption during the highly anticipated matchup.
Trump’s motorcade left just after 2 p.m., during the second half.
There were no reports that his exit affected any communications on the field.
Texas beat the Volunteers on their home turf 20–17.
“We win big games around here, we do,” Sarkisian said. “I know we don’t win them all, but we won a lot of them. And what an incredible performance by our defense.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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