Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump attended the NFL game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and New York Jets on Sunday night as the guest of an unidentified suite holder at Acrisure Stadium.

Trump arrived about halfway through the first quarter and was greeted by a small crowd of supporters wearing Steelers jerseys with a banner that read “Trump Nation.” Later, he waved from the suite as some fans sang “USA.”

The former president’s visit reached a climax dazzling weekend in crucial Pennsylvania for Trump’s campaign, with the election just over two weeks away.

And in its final stop, it created some conflicting loyalties.

Trump is a New Yorker and a personal friend of New York Jets owner Woody Johnson, who briefly served as U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom during the Trump administration.

The Steelers have been owned by the Rooney family for more than 90 years and the late President/Chairman Dan Rooney served as the U.S. Ambassador to Ireland from July 2009 to December 2012 during Barack Obama’s presidency.

On Sunday, the Steelers distanced themselves from taking any sides on Trump’s presence, with club spokesman Burt Lauten noting that Trump was the guest of a suite owner and not the team.

Trump received support from a number of former Steelers. Wide receiver Antonio Brown and running back Le’Veon Bell — both of whom have complicated relationships with their former teams and were viewed as villains during their respective departures in the spring of 2019 — have endorsed Trump.

The former teammates met with Trump poll watchers at an event near the stadium on Sunday afternoon and greeted Trump as his plane landed at Pittsburgh International Airport around the opening kickoff.

Franchise icons and Hall of Famers Joe Greene and Jerome Bettis and the family of late Hall of Fame running back Franco Harris, on the other hand, endorsed Vice President and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris.

The decision to join Brown and Bell was a curious one for Trump.

Brown, a star during his nine seasons in Pittsburgh from 2010 to 2018, forced a trade to Las Vegas in the spring of 2019 after a series of public missteps, including famously choosing not to appear for the team’s 2018 season finale.

Bell was mired in a contract dispute throughout the 2018 season before signing with the Jets in 2019. He failed to replicate the production that made him a Pro Bowler in Pittsburgh and has been out of the league for three years, turning to celebrity boxing.

The choice of Brown seemed a bit out of step with the region, given the former star’s ugly departure. Brown went from a sixth-round draft pick to a perennial All-Pro during his nine seasons in Pittsburgh from 2010 to 2018, before his increasingly inconsistent off-field behavior derailed his career.

The Steelers Brown traded to the Oakland Raiders in the spring of 2019. Yet Oakland cut Brown before he ever played a losing game after a series of issues with the club, including a verbal altercation with the team’s general manager. He immediately signed a contract with the New England Patriots but was released just weeks later allegations of sexual misconduct with people close to him, including a former trainer who claimed Brown raped her. The two sides later settled out of court.

Brown resurfaced in Tampa Bay and won a Super Bowl with the Buccaneers. A season later, he was fired after a series of events, including serving a three-match suspension violating the league’s COVID-19 protocols and a bizarre incident involving Brown quit in the middle of a gamewho famously took off his jersey and sanitary pads before leaving the stadium shirtless.

Brown’s issues made him toxic to NFL teams, though he remained on the fringes of the game. He was briefly the majority owner of a National Arena League team in Albany, New York in 2023 before the franchise was kicked out after Brown failed to meet his financial obligations.

Earlier Sunday, Trump was asked whether he would appear with Brown, given the running back’s controversial history.

“I don’t know anything about the allegations,” Trump said in response to a reporter’s question.

When told the allegations were of sexual assault, Trump said: “I don’t know anything about it. I know he is a great football player.”

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AP writers Michelle Price and Will Weissert contributed to this report.