On a weekend that saw live sports return at home and abroad, President Donald Trump said he is looking forward to “big stadiums” being “loaded with people” once again.
Calling in during a live NBC broadcast of a skins game match between top PGA Tour golfers Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson, Rickie Fowler and Matthew Wolff, President Trump was very bullish about the prospect of more sports returning to play during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We want to get sports back, we miss sports,” Trump said. “We need sports in terms of the psyche of our country. And that’s what we’re doing. We want to get it back to where it was, we want big, big stadiums loaded with people. We don’t want to have 15,000 people watching Alabama-LSU, as an example. We want to get back to normal where you have the big crowds, and they’re practically standing on top of each other and enjoying themselves, not where they’re worried.”
Trump’s optimism flies in the face of much of what Dr. Anthony Fauci has said about when sports can safely return to stadiums packed with fans. At the skins match, McIlroy secured the win for himself and his teammate Johnson by winning a closest-to-the-pin contest on the par-3 17th hole.
Here’s the big shot @McIlroyRory 👏 👏 pic.twitter.com/MbHsFnWqSE
— Q Radio News (@qnewsdesk) May 17, 2020
“I’m proud to be part of an event to entertain people at home on a Sunday afternoon and to raise money for people who need it,” McIlroy, who took 11 of 18 skins along with Johnson in Sunday’s golf exhibition, said as he played the 18th hole.
Overall, the event raised more than $5 million for COVID-19 relief funds.
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