Donald Trump and American football

[6][7] As president, Trump attended several high-profile college football games, primarily in the Southern United States, where he was often well received by attendees.

Nicholas Sarantakes, a historian from the Naval War College, compared Trump's fandom of the sport and his use of attending games as a form of political theatre to fellow president Richard Nixon's.

[6][11] According to The Evening Sun, the group had consisted of six members, including Trump, with former Washington Redskins coach George Allen as the "front man".

[20][22] Instead, Trump believed that buying a team in the newly founded United States Football League (USFL) would yield a much higher return on investment for a lower purchase cost.

[21] Several news sources have called Trump's decision to not buy the Cowboys for $50 million to be a business blunder, as the franchise would go on to be first on Forbes' list of the most valuable sports teams, with a 2018 valuation of roughly $5 billion.

[24] In 1982, the USFL announced that it would begin play the following year, with games to take place in the spring and summer to avoid competing directly with the NFL, whose season ran through fall and winter.

[17] In the leadup to their first season, league executives were planning which cities would receive franchises and were adamant that at least one team be based in the New York metropolitan area.

[25] Additionally, Duncan was unhappy with the constant travel between Oklahoma and New York City,[26] and so, following their inaugural season, he put the team up for sale.

[25][27] Shula countered that he had lost interest after Trump had talked about the negotiations in a television interview that aired during a Dolphins game, and he didn't want the discussions to interfere with the team's season.

[25] Following his purchase of the team, multiple individuals associated with the USFL expressed optimism that Trump would bring the league more attention and increase its value.

[33] Additionally, Trump stated that he had written a letter to USFL commissioner Harry Usher requesting that the topic be addressed at a future meeting of the owners.

[27] Several executives in the USFL, including Tampa Bay Bandits' owner John F. Bassett, rejected Trump's proposal, believing that directly competing with the NFL would hurt the league.

[40][41][42][43] Four years later, the Supreme Court of the United States allowed the ruling to stand and, with including interest, the NFL paid the USFL $3.76 in damages.

[45] As part of the documentary, Tollin tried to answer the question of why the USFL failed and concludes that Trump's actions had a negative effect that led to the league shutting down.

[24] Sullivan had been experiencing financial difficulties through the 1980s and Trump was one of several high-profile individuals who were in talks to purchase the team from him, which also included businessmen Jeffrey Chodorow, Robert Kraft, and St. Louis Mayor Vincent C. Schoemehl, among others.

[7][17] However, thirteen days after the announcement was made, Trump pulled out of the discussions, stating that the deal would have resulted in him also acquiring $104 million in debt from the team and the stadium.

[6] The same day that Trump pulled out, former United States Postmaster General Preston Robert Tisch began to negotiate with Sullivan about purchasing the team.

[50] However, musician Jon Bon Jovi, who had formerly been a part owner of the Arena Football League's Philadelphia Soul, was considered the frontrunner to purchase the team,[44] alongside a group of investors from Toronto.

[51] To help his chances of purchasing the team, Trump employed Michael Caputo,[52] a political operative for the Republican Party, to organize a fan group called the "12th Man Thunder".

[44] Caputo later stated, "We could be as insulting as we wanted to be", while Bon Jovi later told radio host Howard Stern that the move showed Trump to be an "evil genius".

[44] The group received widespread media attention, including an article in the magazine New York titled, "Jon Bon Jovi is the Most Hated Man in Buffalo".

[note 3] Meanwhile, Terry Pegula, a businessman in the natural gas industry and owner of the National Hockey League's Buffalo Sabres, placed a bid of $1.4 billion, acquiring the team.

[6] During the announcement of Pegula as the new owner, Trump, then in Manhattan, tweeted, "The only reason I bid on @buffalobills was to make sure they stayed in Buffalo, where they belong.

"[6] In a 2015 interview with Sports Illustrated, which took place during his presidential campaign, Trump said, "I'm glad [I didn't get the team], because if I bought the Buffalo Bills, I probably would not be [running for president], which is much more important".

[21] Speaking to The Buffalo News shortly before the New York Republican presidential primary in April 2016, Trump expressed a similar attitude, saying, "I bid on that team half-heartedly because I really wanted to do this (run for president).

[49] In August 2016,[54] Colin Kaepernick, the quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, refused to stand during the playing of the national anthem, which traditionally occurs before the beginning of NFL games, as a form of protest against racial inequality and police violence in the United States.

[4][56] The comments were seen as elevating the protests from a small issue within the NFL to a part of the larger culture war between liberals and conservatives in the United States.

[6][7][50][57] In a 2018 article for Business Insider, Schefter stated that some team owners believed Trump's targeting of the NFL was due to his belief that Goodell had played a role in his failed bid to purchase the Bills in 2014.

[58] That same month, in what several commentators called a political stunt,[1][59][60] Trump's vice president, Mike Pence, attended an NFL game and left shortly after several players protested.

[61][62][63] In June 2018, Trump disinvited the Philadelphia Eagles, who had won Super Bowl LII earlier that year, from visiting the White House, which was a traditional honor for championship collegiate and professional sports teams in the United States.