Donald Trump in His Youth: Rare Photos From His Childhood

31. A Football Fan?

Trump’s gamble on Atlantic City casinos wasn’t the only failed enterprise he attempted in the state of New Jersey. Here is Trump shaking hands with Walt Michaels, who Trump had just hired as Head Coach for Trump’s United States Football League team, the New Jersey Generals. That’s right. Trump purchased the Generals in 1983. He hoped to help turn the league into a major contender with the more established National Football League. But Trump made one fatal mistake in trying to run the league.

Many of the teams were losing money, but it was at the behest of Trump that the league move from its regular spring/summer schedule to the fall/winter to directly compete with the NFL. The USFL filed an antitrust suit against the NFL, which it won, but was only awarded $1. It was essentially a “victory in name only.” By then, most teams could not maintain the costs of running their organizations, nor compete with the NFL’s fall schedule, and the league disbanded.