tradition in the past decade.

When Fox televised the Super Bowl last year, Trump sat down with Fox's Bill O'Reilly at the White House.

But this year it always looked unlikely that he would agree to an interview on NBC -- the network broadcasting the big game. He has repeatedly assailed NBC journalists and executives with "fake news" tweets.

Trump's intent to turn down the invite was telegraphed a couple of weeks ago. But NBC officials lobbied for the interview anyway. Part of the pitch: The highly-rated pre-game show is a unique chance for the president to reach a big audience.

Trump, the former star of NBC's "The Apprentice," pays close attention to TV ratings.

But he has lots of reasons to avoid high-stakes interview settings, no matter how high the ratings mightbe. Any NBC journalist would likely question Trump about the ongoing Russia investigations.

Trump's feud with the NFL could have been a factor in the decision-making process. Trump repeatedly criticized the NFL as an organization and the specific players who kneeled during the national anthem.

The idea of a Super Bowl Sunday interview originated with George W. Bush. Obama picked it up in 2009 and sat down for an interview every year.

Trump has sought out friendly forums for TV interviews recently: He sat down with CNBC's Joe Kernen and ITV's Piers Morgan while in Davos last week.

He has also granted interviews to the Wall Street Journal and Reuters this year.