The President of Iceland attended a Milwaukee Bucks game at Fiserv Forum this week. Here's how it happened.

Fiserv Forum is no stranger to hosting celebrity fans of the Milwaukee Bucks from Sheryl Crow to Chance The Rapper and Gucci Mane, from MLB and NFL stars to Wisconsin's favorite injury attorney. But it never hosted a sitting head of state — until Tuesday night against the Boston Celtics.

President Guðni Jóhannesson of Iceland and his two sons made the roughly 2,900 mile trip from the capital Reykjavik to Milwaukee to watch the Bucks take on the Celtics in a thrilling 131-125 overtime win. The Iceland Embassy in Washington, D.C. confirmed to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that the president was "in the United States on a private visit."

“The president’s sons are big NBA fans and specifically are big Giannis (Antetokounmpo) fans, and they’ve never been to an NBA game before,” said Dustin Godsey, chief marketing officer for the Bucks and Fiserv Forum. “It shows the global reach of the Bucks brand and Milwaukee."

Godsey said he received a call several months ago asking if he could help facilitate a visit from Jóhannesson who was planning on attending a game.

“Here is this dad in Iceland who happened to be the president of the country, who’s sons are big Giannis fans and Bucks fans... he wanted to bring them on a trip to Milwaukee to see their team,” Godsey said. “It was a pretty fun thing to be able to help put together.”

Godsey said Jóhannesson wanted to keep the event "low-key" and not draw too much attention to him and his sons.

“We alerted our security team that he was going to be there and to keep an eye on things,” Godsey said. “We definitely made the team aware (they were present). He really wanted the trip to be as low-key as possible and he was ok with us making the announcement on the video board... for him, it wasn’t a head of state visiting, it was him treating his sons to a special night.”

Even the Milwaukee mayor's office was unaware of the visit.

“The direction from him (Jóhannesson) coming in was he wanted this to be a pretty low-key trip, this was about his boys getting to see their favorite team and to see Giannis, and they didn’t want a lot of special treatment,” Godsey said.  “For the most part, they had pretty close to any experience a fan would have coming to the game."

Although they had access to some club areas and special services, Jóhannesson and his sons also walked through the concourse of Fiserv Forum like thousands of other Bucks fans did that night.

“They went out, they got around and walked around the building on their own,” Godsey said. “They definitely walked out and mingled amongst the audience.”

The Bucks tweeted a video of Jóhannesson being recognized at the game and he replied thanking the team "and all Wisconsinites for your hospitality. Great game against a solid Celtics team."

After he was recognized, some fans went over to get a picture with Jóhannesson and welcome him to Milwaukee.

“He was, I think in many ways, honored that people were that excited and so hospitable to him,” Godsey said. “He commented multiple times on how great the people have been to him.”

While the trip lacked all of the tapestry that might come with a visit from a foreign president, it's likely this was the first time a sitting leader of a country has ever taken in a Bucks game in Milwaukee.

“To the best of our knowledge, that we know of, it’s the first sitting head of state that we know of that’s come (to a game),” Godsey said. “In terms of sitting formal heads of state, he’s the only one that we’re aware of.”

Former President Bill Clinton watched the Bucks play at BMO Harris Bradley Center in 2018 and on the road against the Brooklyn Nets in 2019.

After the game, Jóhannesson and his sons were allowed onto the court to take pictures and sit on the bench. The experience wasn't about a visit to America, it was about a father taking his kids to a game the way many area parents do.

“We talk a lot about being a global team and part of a megaphone for the city of Milwaukee, and this is another example of that,” Godsey said. “This family from Iceland have become fans of the team and made a special trip into Milwaukee and it likely did more for that fandom... that was pretty fun and special for us.”

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: President of Iceland and his sons attended Bucks game at Fiserv Forum