Donald Trump won the two most improbable Presidential Election victories of all time.
But Trump’s political career almost never happened.
And Donald Trump revealed the one thing that nearly stopped him from running for President.
The NFL almost kept Donald Trump on the sidelines
Donald Trump has long wanted to own an NFL team.
Trump bought the New Jersey Generals of the USFL in the 1980s with the goal of pushing the league to compete head-to-head with the NFL on Sundays so as to force a merger much in the same way the American Football League – now the AFC – successfully did a generation prior.
That plan failed.
But Trump never gave up on wanting to buy into the NFL – one of the ultimate status symbols for rich guys in America.
Trump had a second opportunity a decade ago when the Wilson family put the Buffalo Bills up for sale.
ESPN host Stephen A. Smith recounted to Bill Maher how the NFL owners turning down Trump’s bid to buy the team led directly to Trump running for President.
“He called me in 2014. This is a true story,” Smith began.
Smith was a nationally famous sports broadcaster by that time and Trump wanted to send a message.
“He says, ‘Stephen A’ — [he] had a secretary — ‘Mr. Trump is on the line,’ etcetera. [Trump] gets on the line. He says, ‘Stephen A., I’m trying to buy the Buffalo Bills.’ Price tag was $1.4 billion,” Smith continued.
Smith recalled how Trump knew he wasn’t going to get the team because he was about $300 million short of the price tag the league owners demanded.
“He had about $1.1 billion. I was being told he wasn’t gonna get the team,” Smith added.
But Smith said Trump wanted him to know he had taken an off ramp by running for President but that the NFL owners wouldn’t hear the last of him.
“He said, ‘Stephen A., if these motherf***** get in my way’ — talking about the NFL owners — ‘these motherf***** get in my way, I’m gonna get them all back. I’m gonna run for president.’ That’s what he said!” Smith exclaimed.
Smith later said Trump involved himself in the Colin Kaepernick National Anthem protests as payback for the NFL owners rejecting his bid to buy the Bills.
Trump confirmed some of the details – namely that he was short of the asking price for the Bills – in an appearance on the Bussin’ With the Boys podcast prior to the 2024 election.
“I don’t think it was a very serious run but I gave them a guarantee of . . . ah . . . $1 billion so that’s always serious, right?” Trump told the hosts who are two former football players.
Back in 2014, Trump told local media he sought to buy the Bills out of civic pride to keep the franchise in New York State.
“I’m going to give it a heavy shot,” Trump said in an interview with the Buffalo News. “I would love to do it, and if I can do it I’m keeping it in Buffalo.”
At the time, there were talks that a group out of Toronto – fronted by rock star Jon Bon Jovi – wanted to purchase the franchise and move it to Canada.
Eventually the owners of the Buffalo Sabers NHL team purchased the football franchise and kept the Bills in Buffalo, and Donald Trump ended up running for President.
Related posts:
Bill O’Reilly revealed Donald Trump’s secret plan to take on the deep state
Donald Trump proved the polls wrong because of these secret supporters
Adam Schiff is mad as hell over what Donald Trump had planned for the military
