President Donald Trump was swiftly fact-checked after he claimed that his recent midterm convention "beat the NFL" in viewership, referring to the 2025-26 season kickoff game between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots.
Trump spoke for nearly two hours that night, with his address airing live on Fox News as well as the Nielsen-rated cable networks Newsmax and NewsNation.
According to the Nielsen ratings, the game drew more than 25 million viewers. By comparison, Trump's speech didn't come anywhere close to that, drawing only 3 million viewers. However, before any numbers were available, Trump nonetheless claimed “the overall numbers beat the NFL."
He wrote the following on Truth Social:
“The Republican Midterm Convention last night, in Dallas, was a major, sold out hit, far bigger, better, and more important than anyone thought possible."
“It was really something, streaming all over the place, and really big numbers, despite going up against the NFL. The overall numbers beat the NFL.”
"The Arena, which was really nice, beat its own attendance records. The place was packed! There were thousands of people outside who couldn’t get in. Screens were provided."
"I guess people LOVE TRUMP POLITICS! I’ll be there again tonight to close out the show. Exciting “Stuff!” MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!"
You can see Trump's post below.
@realDonaldTrump/Truth Social
Trump is, of course, very wrong.
Fox News averaged 2.5 million viewers during the speech, a relatively modest audience for a network that draws a similar number of viewers on an ordinary night. Newsmax attracted nearly 400,000 viewers, while NewsNation drew about 125,000, according to Nielsen data.
In its fact-check, CNN pointed out that Trump claimed his speech is ahead in the ratings because it's “streaming all over the place,” suggesting that cumulative audience numbers would show there were fewer people watching football than watching him. CNN called the claim "illogical" given the "enormous" ratings the game received.
People were quick to call out the president's latest lie.
Trump likely made the claim to distract from the fact that the GOP midterm convention had attracted attention for the number of empty seats.
Liz Landers, the White House correspondent with PBS News Hour, shared footage of the event "officially kicking off in Dallas" that clearly showed scores of empty seats. Similarly, Dana Milbank, a columnist with the Washington Sun, shared footage of what the event looked like from the upper decks—similarly empty. Other columnists also followed suit.
At least one estimate suggested there were as many as 5,000 empty seats during the event.
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