Donald Trump Fought the NFL Once Before. He Got Crushed. (9-24-17 Fortune Mag)

[vkkv]

http://fortune.com/2017/09/24/donald-trump-nfl-usfl/

This isn't the first time Trump has picked a fight with the NFL. And last time around, he lost spectacularly.

Trump’s football adventure began in 1984, when he bought the New Jersey Generals, part of the then-new United States Football League. The USFL, as chronicled in an excellent installment of ESPN’s 30 for 30 series, was envisioned by founder David Dixon as a complement to the National Football League that would play in the spring, leaving fall to the NFL. For its first three years, the strategy seemed successful.

But it wasn't enough for Trump. He pushed hard to shift the USFL to a fall schedule, where the USFL – with less talent and less public awareness – would go head-to-head with the bigger league.


The decision to switch to fall play immediately crippled several USFL teams, who wouldn’t be able to compete directly with local NFL teams. The league even turned down a lifeline in the form of lucrative TV offers to broadcast spring games.

But Trump’s plan was typically audacious and risky. Rather than organically grow a new league, he hoped to force an immediate merger with the NFL, which would provide huge returns for surviving USFL team owners. That goal hinged in part on an antitrust lawsuit alleging the NFL was an unlawful monopoly.

But things didn’t go Trump’s way. While the USFL technically won the antitrust case, the jury concluded mismanagement was mostly at fault for its problems. There was no merger and no buyouts. By 1986, the USFL was finished.

Trump’s current beef with the NFL has little direct parallel with his USFL days, and most current NFL owners weren’t around back then. But Trump is more than able to hold a grudge, so you can bet the episode is on his mind.

[underpants]

1. $4

[freddyvh]

4. not even

$3.76
They were awarded $1, but that tripled under anti trust laws.
the 76 came from interest

the check was never cashed

[underpants]

5. That's right.

I remember that the check was never cashed. I want Nader if someone at the NFL office has to still account for that in the monthly bank rec.

[Motley13]

2. he tried to buy the Buffalo Bills

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/10998306/nfl-want-donald-trump-buy-buffalo-bills

He still holds a grudge

[SCantiGOP]

3. Wasn't it $3 ?

I remember the USFL won the antitrust suit, but the jury determined that they never had a chance to be viable and had screwed things up so badly that it was obvious the only part of their business plan that had a chance of making money was the suit, so they awarded them $1 in damages. Any award in an anti-trust action is automatically tripled.
The NFL attorneys appeared at a press conference, and obviously they were pretty pleased. One reporter asked them to comment on the fact that they had actually lost the case. One of the attorneys said that, even though the teams were required to pay the damages he was going to step in and cover it personally - at that point he pulled out his wallet and pulled out the one dollar bills and laid them on the podium.

[roscoeroscoe]

6. Awesome

Good movie script and closing scene!