Believe it or not, before he was the most famous man on the planet, Donald Trump was just a guy with a massive skyscraper and a burning desire to own an NFL team. Honestly, he didn't just want a team. He wanted the prestige. When the "No Fun League" wouldn't let him in, he did exactly what you’d expect—he bought his own league. Well, sorta. He bought the New Jersey Generals.
It was 1983. The United States Football League (USFL) was this weird, experimental spring league. It was meant to be "football for a buck." Cheap tickets. Fun atmosphere. No competition with the NFL. But then Trump entered the room, and everything changed. He didn't want a "small potatoes" spring league. He wanted a war.
The story of the donald trump football team isn't just about touchdowns or jersey sales. It's about a three-dollar check, a Heisman-heavy roster, and a legal battle that basically ended an entire professional sports league.
Buying In: The Birth of the Donald Trump Football Team
Trump wasn't actually an original founder of the USFL. He actually turned down the chance to own a team in 1982 because he was busy finishing Trump Tower. But after seeing the Generals struggle through a mediocre 6–12 first season under J. Walter Duncan, he saw an opening. He bought the team for somewhere between $5 million and $9 million, depending on whose math you trust.
He didn't just buy a team. He bought a circus. Suddenly, the Generals weren't just a New Jersey footnote. They were front-page news. Trump started signing checks that made NFL owners sweat. He went after the biggest names in the game. He didn't care about the league’s "salary cap." He wanted stars.
The Herschel Walker Era
The Generals already had Herschel Walker, the Heisman winner from Georgia. He was arguably the best player in the world at the time. Trump didn't stop there. He went out and snagged Doug Flutie, another Heisman winner, for a record-breaking contract.
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Imagine having two of the greatest college players ever on the same roster in a brand-new league. It was electric. Attendance at Giants Stadium (which Trump insisted on calling "The Meadowlands" for his games) started to climb. The team actually got good. They went 14–4 in 1984. They were winning. But behind the scenes, Trump was already planning his next move.
The Strategy That Changed Everything
Here’s where things get messy. Most of the other USFL owners were happy playing in the spring. They had a niche. They weren't fighting the NFL for TV time or fans. But Trump famously said, "If God wanted football in the spring, he wouldn't have created baseball."
He convinced the other owners—many of whom were losing money hand over fist—that the only way to survive was to move to the fall. He wanted to go head-to-head with the NFL. Why? Because he figured it would force a merger. If the USFL played in the fall, the NFL would have to take the best teams (like his Generals) just to make the competition go away.
It was a massive gamble.
The $1.3 Billion Lawsuit
To make the fall move work, the USFL filed a massive antitrust lawsuit against the NFL. They claimed the NFL was a monopoly that controlled all the big TV networks. Trump was the star witness. He spent days on the stand, trading barbs with lawyers and basically trying to out-swagger the entire establishment.
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The jury actually agreed with him. Sorta.
They ruled that the NFL was a monopoly. But—and this is the part that hurts—they decided the USFL's problems were mostly their own fault. The jury awarded the USFL damages of exactly $1.00. Because it was an antitrust case, that amount was tripled to $3.00.
A three-dollar check. That was the payout for a billion-dollar dream. The USFL never played a game in the fall. The league folded shortly after.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Generals
You’ll hear a lot of people say Trump "killed" the USFL. It's a popular narrative. But honestly? It's more complicated than that. The league was already bleeding money. Owners were jumping ship. Salaries were skyrocketing because of bidding wars.
Sure, the move to the fall was the final nail in the coffin. But the coffin was already being built. If Trump hadn't pushed for the merger, the league might have lasted a few more years, but it probably wouldn't have survived the 90s anyway. He just sped up the process.
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The Buffalo Bills "What If"
Fast forward to 2014. Long after the Generals were gone, Trump tried to get back into the game. He bid $1 billion cash for the Buffalo Bills after Ralph Wilson passed away. He was a finalist, but Terry Pegula outbid him with $1.4 billion.
Trump later said that if he had won the Bills, he probably never would have run for president. Think about that for a second. The entire course of American history might have changed if he’d just offered another $500 million for a football team in Western New York.
Actionable Insights: Lessons from the Generals Era
Looking back at the donald trump football team, there are a few real-world takeaways for anyone interested in sports business or high-stakes negotiation:
- Market Positioning Matters: The USFL's biggest mistake was abandoning its "spring football" niche. When you try to compete directly with a titan, you have to be prepared for total war.
- The Power of Star Power: Trump proved that names like Herschel Walker and Doug Flutie could sell tickets and get TV networks to pay attention, even for a brand-new league.
- Litigation is a Risky Strategy: Relying on a jury to "save" a business is almost always a losing bet. The USFL spent millions on lawyers only to get a $3 payout.
- Leverage is Everything: Trump used the Generals to try and "buy" his way into the NFL. He didn't actually want to own a USFL team; he wanted an NFL franchise at a discount.
If you're looking to dive deeper into this era, I'd highly recommend watching the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary called "Small Potatoes: Who Killed the USFL?" It features a pretty famous interview where Trump basically tells the filmmaker he's "small-time" for asking about it. It captures the energy of that time perfectly.
For fans of football history, the New Jersey Generals remain one of the great "what could have been" stories. If the lawsuit had gone differently, or if the NFL had blinked, we might be watching the Generals play on Sundays today. Instead, they’re just a fascinating footnote in the long, loud history of American sports.
To explore more about the players who made this team legendary, start by researching the 1984 USFL stats—it’s wild to see what Herschel Walker did in that offense before he ever set foot in the NFL.