Despite trashing the league over the years, Donald Trump has still attended NFL games and attempted to break into the ownership group, and has become a familiar face in college football
Donald Trump has a mixed relationship with football, clearly enjoying the game while also bashing the NFL over the years
Donald Trump has a mixed relationship with football, clearly enjoying the game while also bashing the NFL over the years(Image: Getty Images)
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Donald Trump has a complicated history with the game of football.
In fact, the 80-year-old has a long and contentious relationship with the sport, spanning high school play, different leagues, political feuds, and historic presidential milestones. This all led up to his recent comments; at a recent rally ahead of the midterms, Trump renewed his criticism of the NFL, taking aim at both the league and its fans.
“Who the h--- wants to watch football? It’s boring as h---!” Trump said. “The NFL should go back to a thing where you kick the ball and people get the ball. It’s so unglamorous what they have done. They have no right to ruin football by doing s--- like that.”
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Trump has tried to purchase a team in the NFL, owned a team in the USFL, and was central to the Colin Kaepernick-led movement that captivated the sporting world. Here is the president’s long, tumultuous history with football:
High School: New York Military Academy
Before becoming a businessman and TV star, and long before becoming the president, Trump was a three sport athlete at New York Military Academy and played on the football team for one year. Former classmate Ted Levine told Business Insider: “He was just the best, a good athlete, a great athlete... Could he play football? Could he play soccer? He could do anything he wanted. He was physically and mentally gifted.”(Image: Classmates.com)
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Trump makes his first attempt to crack into ownership, bidding for the Baltimore Colts franchise. However, he passes on the opportunity.(Image: Getty Images)
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Trump enters the world of professional football ownership by purchasing the New Jersey Generals of the startup United States Football League for approximately $10 million. A year later, he cements the Generals as a leading USFL franchise by signing Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Doug Flutie.
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A year after purchasing the Generals, Trump passes on the chance to crack into the NFL with the Dallas Cowboys , who were available for $50 million. America’s Team gets sold to Jerry Jones - a Trump and Republican supporter - in 1989 for $140 million.(Image: Getty Images)
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Having convinced fellow USFL owners to move the schedule from the spring to the fall to directly compete with the NFL, in an attempt to force a merger between the two leagues, Trump orchestrates a huge federal antitrust lawsuit against the NFL. It backfires; the jury rules that the NFL is an illegal monopoly but awards the USFL just $1 - later trebled to $3 - in damages. Without a TV contract or merger, the USFL folds.(Image: Getty Images)
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Before his political career ignited, Trump makes a final attempt to purchase an NFL franchise, submitting an all-cash bid of $1 billion to buy the Buffalo Bills following the death of founder Ralph Wilson. He is outbid by Terry Pegula, and later states he woul never have run for president had he become Bills owner.(Image: Getty Images)
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