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5.This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.īy the time Kenneth Starr started speaking at the Senate impeachment trial of Donald John Trump on Monday afternoon, it was hard not to wonder whether the whole thing was meant as a monumental distraction.

No one would ever find out if that was true, however, as the league folded before the 1986 season before it could carry out the plan to compete directly with the NFL in the fall. 'It's probably the best team in football,' Trump said at the time of the merger. AP Photo/Marty LederhandlerĪfter the 1985 season, the Generals merged with the Houston Gamblers to create a USFL 'Dream Team' that would have included future NFL standouts Jim Kelly at quarterback, Herschel Walker at running back and Ricky Sanders are receiver. The USFL would fold before the combined team could take the field. The USFL's Dream Team never materialized Trump, left, and Steve Ross announce the agreement to merge the Houston Gamblers with the Generals. The comments and subsequent questions turned into a distraction, and Shula pulled his name from consideration. Trump, however, overplayed his hand when he publicly declared he was in negotiations with Shula and mentioned his demands during a clip that aired during halftime of a Dolphins game in October 1983. The deal, according to Trump, hinged on Shula's demand for an apartment in Trump Tower, which Trump didn't want to do despite agreeing to pay the coach at least $1 million per season over five years. Trump almost lured Don Shula away from the DolphinsĪfter buying the Generals, Trump made a serious push to hire legendary coach Don Shula away from the Miami Dolphins. Both seasons under Trump ended with first-round playoff losses. The Generals went 14-4 in their second season and 11-7 in their third and final season. Trump also made a splash by signing several former NFL players, including quarterback Brian Sipe, safety Gary Barbaro and linebacker Jim LeClair. Trump fired Fairbanks and brought in former New York Jets coach Walt Michaels. The Generals went 6-12 in their first season.ĭuncan didn't like being an absentee owner living in Oklahoma and sold the team to Trump, who was 37 years old when he bought the Generals. Walter Duncan was the team's first owner, and he brought former Oklahoma and New England Patriots coach Chuck Fairbanks in as the head coach, general manager and minority partner. That said, the Generals were better during Trump's two seasons as owner than they were in their inaugural season in 1983. It's hard to be associated with helping to destroy a league and be considered a good owner at the same time. Trump will never be remembered as a great owner. The Generals were pretty good under Trump The league soon folded, and Trump's push for the fall schedule and a lawsuit against the NFL is generally cited as the main reason. The merger never happened, and despite winning the lawsuit, the USFL was ultimately awarded only $3 for its troubles. The hope was that the USFL would either merge with the established league or win a sizable settlement. The USFL instead tried to take on the NFL in the courts by filing an antitrust lawsuit.

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Several teams were having financial difficulties at the time, and the league lacked the fall TV contracts that supported the NFL. 'When that decision was made, the course for this was charted, and it was going to be a wreck.' Ted Diethrich, one of the league's original owners.

'If God wanted football in the spring,' Trump once said, 'he wouldn't have created baseball.' After the league's third season, the owners agreed to move to a fall schedule in 1986. Soon after Trump bought the Generals after the USFL's inaugural season, which was played in the spring of 1983, he started pushing his fellow owners to move the league's games to the fall and go head-to-head with the NFL. Trump is widely blamed for the demise of the USFL Let's take this anniversary as a chance to look back at five memorable aspects of Trump's short tenure as a pro sports owner. In fact, one reason Trump bought a USFL team to begin with was that he saw it as an opening into the NFL by way of a merger. Last year, Trump tried to get back into football by buying the Buffalo Bills, but Sabres owner Terry Pegula landed the franchise for $1.4 billion. The golf club in Puerto Rico bearing his name filed for bankruptcy this week. He also operates 17 golf courses around the world, but the PGA of America won't hold its Grand Slam of Golf at Trump National in Los Angeles after Trump's recent controversial comments about Mexican immigrants. He held several big fights at the Trump Plaza in Atlantic City before it shut down. Since the USFL folded after the 1985 season, Trump has tried to get back into sports with mixed results.

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