I bet a few of those former friends, at least once, said....trust the plan. I'd guarantee it.
Donald Trump's USFL Tenure Foretold What Was Coming
- Thread starter selmaborntidefan
- Start date
Because Harvey Myerson's witness (USFL commish Usher) testified that the NFL had forced the USFL out of Los Angeles and Chicago, Judge Leisure opened the door for the NFL to introduce refuting evidence of that contention (which as we will we see - if we didn't know already - was not true). In fact, this opening was crucial to the NFL establishing their basic contention that the entire lawsuit was a Donald Trump-led scheme to force the league to accept new teams in a merger. Prior to this testimony, Judge Leisure was only willing to permit the NFL to discuss the USFL's "merger strategy" as a potential "business decision" rather than as a devious plan for a desired outcome. But Usher's assertion that the USFL was forced to move teams that had actually gone under persuaded Leisure to alter what was permitted to be introduced. (Note: I apologize - I'm not a lawyer, so I'm doing the best I can to communicate here).
Court was delayed for two days as Myerson was hospitalized for a potassium deficiency (e.g. hypokalemia). Two of the main signs of hypokalemia are things that expel potassium ions from the body (sweating, vomiting, diarrhea), and the primary symptom is weakness/fatigue. (Again - it will be important a few posts down).
June 6 - the NFL files documents in the trial that had previously been solely introduced as exhibits. Their amended submission points the finger at Trump being behind an intentional strategy to force the NFL to accept some new teams. Documents from meetings show that almost from day one, Trump's "master plan" was to force the NFL to take in a few financially stable teams. There are documents throughout Trump's entire tenure as team owner that suggest this was his entire goal. These are what Frank Rothman promised were his "25 smoking guns," and they could now be produced thanks to the USFL's own comissioner.
June 10 - the lead sports story in "USA Today" runs the story claiming Trump's plan was to force a merger. The memos introduced into evidence by the NFL demonstrate that several of the USFL team moves/franchise grants - to cities like Portland, San Antonio, and Jacksonville (as well as the Stars relocating from Philly to Baltimore right after the Colts left) - are part of a larger attempt to have teams in cities that do not have NFL teams. And Trump is hardly the only one cited in the memos. Eddie Einhorn, head of a Chicago team that never came into existence, and Ted Taube (whose Oakland Invaders have a name similar to in the city where the Raiders had just left in 1982) are quoted in USFL memos referring to "merger strategy." The most devastating evidence is a radio interview conducted with Orlando Renegades minority owner Charles Givens, where he muses, "For a few hundred thousand dollars... you can take a chance on an instant net worth of $70 million if you merge with the NFL...that's what it's about, even though the USFL won't tell you that."
Almost as devastating to the USFL's case is the existence of two pieces of evidence concerning Trump. The first is a newspaper quote of Trump from May 1984 where he brashly asserts that the existence of the USFL hurt the NFL "very badly...in terms of salaries." The second piece - far more devastating than a newspaper quote Trump would deny - is a letter from early 1984 when Trump had been an owner for mere months that predicted a merger within 18 months (or prior to the start of the 1986 NFL regular season).
BOTH the NFL AND the USFL deny the reports that Judge Leisure suggested the two parties settle the case. Although this was only confirmed by USFL anonymous sources, Commissioner Usher DENIES any attempt at settlement and promptly blames the report on the NFL spin machine. Joe Browne, the NFL's main PR guy, also denies it.
On the witness stand, Herschel Walker makes a return appearance for cross-examination, and he's the only witness to testify on this day. Walker admits to having a salary of - and being paid - $3.25 million over his three years in the league. Walker testifies under questioning from NFL attorney Robert Fiske that he was completely unaware that the initial USFL launch plan included a limit of $1.8 million in salary for an entire team roster.
Edited to Add:
There's another piece of highly incriminating evidence against Trump himself although it is debatable whether it will actually be used.
In an entry from the minutes of a January 1984 USFL owners meeting - and already the discussions of the merger - Trump advises the owners to inform the networks of an unreasonably low number so as to be able to say their higher number is a wonderful thing. And it also demonstrates precisely what kind of businessman Trump is.
The USFL notes quote Trump saying the following:
"When I build something for somebody, I always add $50 or $60 million into the price. My guys come in and say it's going to cost $75 million, I say it's going to cost $125 million and then I build it for a hundred. Basically, I did a lousy job, but they think I did a great job. So you have to do the same thing with television."
June 12 - Roone Arledge of ABC Sports testifies that he personally rejected the USFL for a fall football contract for two reasons: 1) there is already a glut of football games on TV; 2) the league has a rapidly deteriorating image that is not in the best long-term interest of his network. Arledge testifies that the critical point in the entire consideration came in June 1984 when the Supreme Court removed restrictions as to the number of games that could be televised in college football with the result that the networks now had more football games than they could possibly air. (Reminder: this is before ESPN is even a well-respected network or ESPN2 has even been proposed). Arledge testifies that he very specifically told Donald Trump that there was already a glut of games and consequently, "There's no market there." Arledge further points out that when the USFL approached him in 1982 for a spring contract, it fit the profile and needs of ABC Sports perfectly. He acknowledged the network made a bunch of money on the USFL in 1983 and 1984, but he also pointed out they lost quite a bit in 1985, a problem Arledge attributed to the league's constant franchise shifts and lack of stability plus the already announced decision to move to the fall. Arledge was crystal clear the decision was solely an economic one and the NFL had in no way pressured him or anyone he knew.
Now everyone buckle up because on June 16, 1986, Donald Trump takes the stand to testify in the USFL's case presentation. He will be followed by Al Davis and, finally, Howard Cosell. To those who know who these men are(were), it's amazing that New York didn't explode with the competing egos and hot air.
Court was delayed for two days as Myerson was hospitalized for a potassium deficiency (e.g. hypokalemia). Two of the main signs of hypokalemia are things that expel potassium ions from the body (sweating, vomiting, diarrhea), and the primary symptom is weakness/fatigue. (Again - it will be important a few posts down).
June 6 - the NFL files documents in the trial that had previously been solely introduced as exhibits. Their amended submission points the finger at Trump being behind an intentional strategy to force the NFL to accept some new teams. Documents from meetings show that almost from day one, Trump's "master plan" was to force the NFL to take in a few financially stable teams. There are documents throughout Trump's entire tenure as team owner that suggest this was his entire goal. These are what Frank Rothman promised were his "25 smoking guns," and they could now be produced thanks to the USFL's own comissioner.
June 10 - the lead sports story in "USA Today" runs the story claiming Trump's plan was to force a merger. The memos introduced into evidence by the NFL demonstrate that several of the USFL team moves/franchise grants - to cities like Portland, San Antonio, and Jacksonville (as well as the Stars relocating from Philly to Baltimore right after the Colts left) - are part of a larger attempt to have teams in cities that do not have NFL teams. And Trump is hardly the only one cited in the memos. Eddie Einhorn, head of a Chicago team that never came into existence, and Ted Taube (whose Oakland Invaders have a name similar to in the city where the Raiders had just left in 1982) are quoted in USFL memos referring to "merger strategy." The most devastating evidence is a radio interview conducted with Orlando Renegades minority owner Charles Givens, where he muses, "For a few hundred thousand dollars... you can take a chance on an instant net worth of $70 million if you merge with the NFL...that's what it's about, even though the USFL won't tell you that."
Almost as devastating to the USFL's case is the existence of two pieces of evidence concerning Trump. The first is a newspaper quote of Trump from May 1984 where he brashly asserts that the existence of the USFL hurt the NFL "very badly...in terms of salaries." The second piece - far more devastating than a newspaper quote Trump would deny - is a letter from early 1984 when Trump had been an owner for mere months that predicted a merger within 18 months (or prior to the start of the 1986 NFL regular season).
BOTH the NFL AND the USFL deny the reports that Judge Leisure suggested the two parties settle the case. Although this was only confirmed by USFL anonymous sources, Commissioner Usher DENIES any attempt at settlement and promptly blames the report on the NFL spin machine. Joe Browne, the NFL's main PR guy, also denies it.
On the witness stand, Herschel Walker makes a return appearance for cross-examination, and he's the only witness to testify on this day. Walker admits to having a salary of - and being paid - $3.25 million over his three years in the league. Walker testifies under questioning from NFL attorney Robert Fiske that he was completely unaware that the initial USFL launch plan included a limit of $1.8 million in salary for an entire team roster.
Edited to Add:
There's another piece of highly incriminating evidence against Trump himself although it is debatable whether it will actually be used.
In an entry from the minutes of a January 1984 USFL owners meeting - and already the discussions of the merger - Trump advises the owners to inform the networks of an unreasonably low number so as to be able to say their higher number is a wonderful thing. And it also demonstrates precisely what kind of businessman Trump is.
The USFL notes quote Trump saying the following:
"When I build something for somebody, I always add $50 or $60 million into the price. My guys come in and say it's going to cost $75 million, I say it's going to cost $125 million and then I build it for a hundred. Basically, I did a lousy job, but they think I did a great job. So you have to do the same thing with television."
June 12 - Roone Arledge of ABC Sports testifies that he personally rejected the USFL for a fall football contract for two reasons: 1) there is already a glut of football games on TV; 2) the league has a rapidly deteriorating image that is not in the best long-term interest of his network. Arledge testifies that the critical point in the entire consideration came in June 1984 when the Supreme Court removed restrictions as to the number of games that could be televised in college football with the result that the networks now had more football games than they could possibly air. (Reminder: this is before ESPN is even a well-respected network or ESPN2 has even been proposed). Arledge testifies that he very specifically told Donald Trump that there was already a glut of games and consequently, "There's no market there." Arledge further points out that when the USFL approached him in 1982 for a spring contract, it fit the profile and needs of ABC Sports perfectly. He acknowledged the network made a bunch of money on the USFL in 1983 and 1984, but he also pointed out they lost quite a bit in 1985, a problem Arledge attributed to the league's constant franchise shifts and lack of stability plus the already announced decision to move to the fall. Arledge was crystal clear the decision was solely an economic one and the NFL had in no way pressured him or anyone he knew.
Now everyone buckle up because on June 16, 1986, Donald Trump takes the stand to testify in the USFL's case presentation. He will be followed by Al Davis and, finally, Howard Cosell. To those who know who these men are(were), it's amazing that New York didn't explode with the competing egos and hot air.
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1986
June 12 - Neal Pilson (CBS) testifies that the NFL's negotiating strategy left his network with the choice of either losing the NFL or forking over $700 million. Pilson stated the network met this $700 million demand at the opening of negotiations with the NFL. Pilson said that Pete Rozelle had made it crystal clear that if CBS didn't start with an opening gambit of $700 million, he already had verbal commitments from both NBC and ABC to pick up the slack and televise the games CBS would be surrendering on Sunday afternoons. In this admission, Pilson was simply confirming what Rozelle had already said earlier in the trial - negotiations are hardball and require hard but legal tactics. Myerson attempted to get Pilson to allege Rozelle had "threatened" the USFL, but Pilson refused to say it that way.
Pilson also admitted that CBS had, in fact, considered televising USFL games in the spring of 1984 if the league ever moved to the fall. But he followed this with the point that they had done their own study and determined such a venture would likely not be profitable at all. Myerson then tried to get Pilson to frame his answer in such a way as to say that if CBS had let the NFL go, they would have $50 million to spend on USFL programming. Pilson, however, said there are many other factors involved besides that - and that despite Myerson thinking it was as simple as he was presenting the case, it wasn't really that simple.
June 13 - Eddie Einhorn, owner of the Chicago White Sox as well as owner of a yet-to-be-named USFL franchise testifies that he had had discussions with executives at both NBC and CBS. Both were willing to televise USFL games in tandem with the other network, Einhorn said, but neither wanted to be the one to go first. Einhorn admitted freely he had no proof that "the NFL" ever called up and pressured anyone, but he repeatedly asserted his opinion that "you can see a pattern of coercion" and "network executives said they felt pressured" by the NFL.
Einhorn then admitted that ABC had offered first $150 million and then $175 million if the USFL stayed as a spring football league, but the league had turned it down because it was no more than their current cable contract with ESPN. He also admitted that the sites where franchises relocated was to position themselves for a potential merger with the NFL.
June 15 - Harvey Myerson is admitted to the hospital with a viral infection. Court continues for the moment.
June 19 - the sports world is stunned by one of those rare stories where news interrupts the normal flow of the day - the cocaine overdose death of Maryland basketball star and Boston Celtics first-round draft pick Len Bias less than 48 hours after his drafting by Red Auerbach. On the same day - but obviously making nowhere near the news - the NFL's counsel publicly mocked a study submitted to the Court by the USFL that showed they were entitled to $1.69 billion. The economic determination was submitted by and economist, Dr. Nina Cornell. Fiske mocked Cornell's projections by saying that by her methodology, Donald Trump's Generals would be playing in front of a 232,000-seat fully sold out stadium in 1992. Cornell stood by the claim.
June 12 - Neal Pilson (CBS) testifies that the NFL's negotiating strategy left his network with the choice of either losing the NFL or forking over $700 million. Pilson stated the network met this $700 million demand at the opening of negotiations with the NFL. Pilson said that Pete Rozelle had made it crystal clear that if CBS didn't start with an opening gambit of $700 million, he already had verbal commitments from both NBC and ABC to pick up the slack and televise the games CBS would be surrendering on Sunday afternoons. In this admission, Pilson was simply confirming what Rozelle had already said earlier in the trial - negotiations are hardball and require hard but legal tactics. Myerson attempted to get Pilson to allege Rozelle had "threatened" the USFL, but Pilson refused to say it that way.
Pilson also admitted that CBS had, in fact, considered televising USFL games in the spring of 1984 if the league ever moved to the fall. But he followed this with the point that they had done their own study and determined such a venture would likely not be profitable at all. Myerson then tried to get Pilson to frame his answer in such a way as to say that if CBS had let the NFL go, they would have $50 million to spend on USFL programming. Pilson, however, said there are many other factors involved besides that - and that despite Myerson thinking it was as simple as he was presenting the case, it wasn't really that simple.
June 13 - Eddie Einhorn, owner of the Chicago White Sox as well as owner of a yet-to-be-named USFL franchise testifies that he had had discussions with executives at both NBC and CBS. Both were willing to televise USFL games in tandem with the other network, Einhorn said, but neither wanted to be the one to go first. Einhorn admitted freely he had no proof that "the NFL" ever called up and pressured anyone, but he repeatedly asserted his opinion that "you can see a pattern of coercion" and "network executives said they felt pressured" by the NFL.
Einhorn then admitted that ABC had offered first $150 million and then $175 million if the USFL stayed as a spring football league, but the league had turned it down because it was no more than their current cable contract with ESPN. He also admitted that the sites where franchises relocated was to position themselves for a potential merger with the NFL.
June 15 - Harvey Myerson is admitted to the hospital with a viral infection. Court continues for the moment.
June 19 - the sports world is stunned by one of those rare stories where news interrupts the normal flow of the day - the cocaine overdose death of Maryland basketball star and Boston Celtics first-round draft pick Len Bias less than 48 hours after his drafting by Red Auerbach. On the same day - but obviously making nowhere near the news - the NFL's counsel publicly mocked a study submitted to the Court by the USFL that showed they were entitled to $1.69 billion. The economic determination was submitted by and economist, Dr. Nina Cornell. Fiske mocked Cornell's projections by saying that by her methodology, Donald Trump's Generals would be playing in front of a 232,000-seat fully sold out stadium in 1992. Cornell stood by the claim.
1986
Donald Trump takes the stand and, well, it sounds like his entire Presidency.
June 23 - on the opening day of his testimony, Donald Trump asserts that he is nothing more than a guy who is trying to survive against "the horror that is the NFL." On his first day, Trump asserts that if the league loses the lawsuit, they will not play in the fall of 1986 (Usher denies this to the press afterwards). Trump testifies that NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle had promised him an NFL franchise in March 1984 if Trump would give up his plans to move the league to the fall as well as any lawsuit. (Note: this is comically absurd since the move to fall wasn't even announced until August). Trump asserts under oath Rozelle is "a friend" but then admits their entire relationship has been little more than meeting each other at public events. Trump also asserted that Rozelle had talked to Trump prior to Trump buying into the league, telling Trump that the USFL was going to fail "because there weren't enough people who watched football in the spring" and "because he controlled the networks." (Rozelle had denied ever saying the league would fail on the stand on May 21). Trump also asserted that the meeting in March 1984 at the Pierre Hotel was Rozelle's idea. Trump also claimed that in this meeting, he had actually discussed the idea of merging 5 or 6 USFL teams into the NFL, but Rozelle had rejected the idea. Trump stated that Rozelle's reasoning was that it would dilute the TV revenue already going to the 28 existing NFL franchises. Trump then asserted that Rozelle called him weeks later. Trump further went into the adjectives game by calling the NFL "a monopoly" and "an adversary who was impossible to fight" and who used "fear factor" in negotiations with the networks. Trump even claimed Rozelle had said the USFL was "doomed to failure." Upon Trump's final words of conclusion, Judge Leisure then instructed the jury to ignore Trump's conclusions.
Myerson only questioned Trump for one hour and then turned over cross-examination to Frank Rothman.
Rothman several times referred to Trump's examination by Myerson as a "speech" and introduced some previously undisclosed material - asking Trump if he, in fact, had used waiters and busboys at his own hotel to spy on NFL owners during a meeting held there years previous. Trump denied he had. Rothman then introduced numerous letters showing that Trump had been talking about moving the league to the fall from his very first month as an owner (Sept 1983), long before any meeting with Rozelle. Rothman asked Trump, "It was YOU who raised the issue of moving from the spring to the fall, wasn't it?" Trump's response was that he "was the leading catalyst" because he didn't believe the spring ratings on TV would allow the league to survive.
The issue of busboys spying came up when Rothman introduced another letter into evidence, the official USFL meeting minutes. Trump is quoted in these minutes as saying that the NFL had checked Trump's hotel for bugging devices but weren't smart enough to check the busboys and waiters. When confronted with these words, Trump said he didn't recall saying that but if he had that it "was in jest." Trump also stated under oath that without a win, the USFL was doomed, a remark he repeated outside the courtroom. Rothman also got under Trump's skin with the assertion that a merger would greatly enhance the value of any USFL franchises that merged. Trump retorted, "I'm not looking for a bargain. If I wanted an NFL franchise, I could have had one long ago. I could have had the Baltimore Colts if I had wanted to pay a little more money." Rothman then asked Trump how much he had paid for the Generals, and Myerson's objection was sustained. Judge Leisure - while sustaining the objection - then said, "I'm sure the jury knows the difference in price between a USFL franchise and an NFL franchise."
Rothman went back to the central point of the NFL's argument: the USFL was not in financial trouble because of anything other than their own mismanagement, and there was no conspiracy whatsoever to destroy the league.
Trump was the sole witness on June 23, and he was to be followed by Cosell, the last witness called, on June 25.
Donald Trump takes the stand and, well, it sounds like his entire Presidency.
June 23 - on the opening day of his testimony, Donald Trump asserts that he is nothing more than a guy who is trying to survive against "the horror that is the NFL." On his first day, Trump asserts that if the league loses the lawsuit, they will not play in the fall of 1986 (Usher denies this to the press afterwards). Trump testifies that NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle had promised him an NFL franchise in March 1984 if Trump would give up his plans to move the league to the fall as well as any lawsuit. (Note: this is comically absurd since the move to fall wasn't even announced until August). Trump asserts under oath Rozelle is "a friend" but then admits their entire relationship has been little more than meeting each other at public events. Trump also asserted that Rozelle had talked to Trump prior to Trump buying into the league, telling Trump that the USFL was going to fail "because there weren't enough people who watched football in the spring" and "because he controlled the networks." (Rozelle had denied ever saying the league would fail on the stand on May 21). Trump also asserted that the meeting in March 1984 at the Pierre Hotel was Rozelle's idea. Trump also claimed that in this meeting, he had actually discussed the idea of merging 5 or 6 USFL teams into the NFL, but Rozelle had rejected the idea. Trump stated that Rozelle's reasoning was that it would dilute the TV revenue already going to the 28 existing NFL franchises. Trump then asserted that Rozelle called him weeks later. Trump further went into the adjectives game by calling the NFL "a monopoly" and "an adversary who was impossible to fight" and who used "fear factor" in negotiations with the networks. Trump even claimed Rozelle had said the USFL was "doomed to failure." Upon Trump's final words of conclusion, Judge Leisure then instructed the jury to ignore Trump's conclusions.
Myerson only questioned Trump for one hour and then turned over cross-examination to Frank Rothman.
Rothman several times referred to Trump's examination by Myerson as a "speech" and introduced some previously undisclosed material - asking Trump if he, in fact, had used waiters and busboys at his own hotel to spy on NFL owners during a meeting held there years previous. Trump denied he had. Rothman then introduced numerous letters showing that Trump had been talking about moving the league to the fall from his very first month as an owner (Sept 1983), long before any meeting with Rozelle. Rothman asked Trump, "It was YOU who raised the issue of moving from the spring to the fall, wasn't it?" Trump's response was that he "was the leading catalyst" because he didn't believe the spring ratings on TV would allow the league to survive.
The issue of busboys spying came up when Rothman introduced another letter into evidence, the official USFL meeting minutes. Trump is quoted in these minutes as saying that the NFL had checked Trump's hotel for bugging devices but weren't smart enough to check the busboys and waiters. When confronted with these words, Trump said he didn't recall saying that but if he had that it "was in jest." Trump also stated under oath that without a win, the USFL was doomed, a remark he repeated outside the courtroom. Rothman also got under Trump's skin with the assertion that a merger would greatly enhance the value of any USFL franchises that merged. Trump retorted, "I'm not looking for a bargain. If I wanted an NFL franchise, I could have had one long ago. I could have had the Baltimore Colts if I had wanted to pay a little more money." Rothman then asked Trump how much he had paid for the Generals, and Myerson's objection was sustained. Judge Leisure - while sustaining the objection - then said, "I'm sure the jury knows the difference in price between a USFL franchise and an NFL franchise."
Rothman went back to the central point of the NFL's argument: the USFL was not in financial trouble because of anything other than their own mismanagement, and there was no conspiracy whatsoever to destroy the league.
Trump was the sole witness on June 23, and he was to be followed by Cosell, the last witness called, on June 25.
June 24 - former AFL commissioner, Los Angeles Raiders owner, Pete Rozelle nemesis and Donald Trump With Empathy (aka Al Davis) takes the stand in the trial. Davis is the only NFL owner (and the Raiders the only team) excluded from the USFL's lawsuit.
Davis testifies he believes the NFL conspired to cripple the Oakland Invaders' USFL franchise. The Raiders had left in 1982, and the Invaders were considered a bit of a replacement in Davis' view. Davis asserted that the CITY of Oakland had first supported and then removed their support from the Invaders, and he implied but never directly asserted the NFL was behind it. Davis stated he had had a meeting with NFL attorneys Robert Fiske and Paul Tagliabue where he asserted that ever since 1980, the NFL had tried to destroy Davis' Raiders. To take Davis' claims to their logical conclusion, he was asserting that the NFL was angry at him for moving the team out of Oakland, so they first conspired to "destroy the Raiders" and then conspired "to destroy the Invaders." It was a performance that would no doubt have earned the Trump Seal of Approval.
Davis further stated he had been asked to be the USFL's first commissioner as well as his opinion that Rozelle was wrong to tell Alfred Taubman (Panthers owner and Invaders half-owner after they merged) that Taubman would make "a good NFL owner." Davis admitted this was hearsay - he heard it from a friend (Ralph Wilson, Buffalo Bills) who heard it from a friend (Taubman).
The final USFL witness? ABC Sportscaster Howard Cosell.
June 25 -
In the fall of 1985, ABC sportscaster Howard Cosell made serious waves with his latest book, "I Never Played the Game." Cosell unloaded on a number of his then colleagues at ABC, everyone from Frank Gifford to OJ Simpson. The book was so controversial - and nothing sells like controversy - that ABC removed Cosell from television coverage of the 1985 World Series and replaced him with parallel windbag Tim McCarver, calling his first World Series of 13 and setting a new low standard of broadcast incompetence.
McCarver's appearance with Al Michaels and Jim Palmer was later panned as "three guys who showed up to read stats books during a baseball game."
Howard Cosell shows up - to be charitable about it - drunk on his ass, although most outlets don't mention that inconvenient truth. Cosell, himself a lawyer, spends 39 minutes introducing himself and putting on a show worthy of a late-night sketch on "Saturday Night Live," including reading the roster of the 1969 New York Jets. In typical fashion, Cosell is combative and presents himself as "the only person who tells it like it is." In all honesty, if Trump were a sportscaster with a scintilla of common sense, he'd probably have grown up to be Cosell.
Cosell's testimony lasts 3 1/2 rollicking hours, with his musings on all manner of subject. Rothman had once been Cosell's lawyer, a subject that came up in the trial. Using his trademark exaggerated baritone, Cosell said that although he had been subpoenaed, he would have volunteered to testify in this case of "David against a Goliath that controls the marketplace." Cosell asserted that the USFL would have begun their league in the fall if a truly open marketplace existed, but it didn't. Cosell contradicted his old boss and friend, Roone Arledge, as well as Jim Spence. He also claimed that Patriots VP Charles Sullivan had admitted to him that the NFL's 1984 supplemental draft of USFL players came perilously close to antitrust territory.
Cosell testifies that Trump had offered him a chance to become a minority owner of the Generals and that he is here "to help these people" (the USFL). Cosell spent much of his testimony sparring with Rothman, his former lawyer, over a number of things. At one point during his bloviating, Cosell interrupted himself with the observation, "This is irrelevant, Mr. Rothman, but it IS colorful." After Rothman followed one Cosell dissertation with the observation that "I'm not as smart as you," Cosell retorted with, "Well, Frank, we learned that long ago." According to William Mack of "Sports Illustrated, "Cosell scored points by punching back at Rothman with the observation that several men Rothman listed - including Tex Schramm and Leon Hess - "were not truthful in recent cases involving the National Football League." Cosell qualified his criticism with the observation they were "not villains." As Cosell walked out of the courtroom, he turned to a reporter and said, "What a performance!"
It was the kind of testimony Donald Trump had to have loved.
Larry Felser, however, was less than enamored with Cosell's self-centered performance, dismissing Cosell as "pathetic, a sour has-been striking out in all directions."
The USFL rested their case on June 25. The NFL was very concerned - enough so that Art Modell said they were nine points behind at halftime and needed to come back. Sorts Illustrated ran their July 7, 1986 cover story with the title, "Give The First Round To the USFL."
It was now time for the NFL to put their witnesses on the stand and present their side of the case.
Cosell testifies that NFL commissioner Rozelle is upset about the fact ABC gave the USFL a TV contract.
Davis testifies he believes the NFL conspired to cripple the Oakland Invaders' USFL franchise. The Raiders had left in 1982, and the Invaders were considered a bit of a replacement in Davis' view. Davis asserted that the CITY of Oakland had first supported and then removed their support from the Invaders, and he implied but never directly asserted the NFL was behind it. Davis stated he had had a meeting with NFL attorneys Robert Fiske and Paul Tagliabue where he asserted that ever since 1980, the NFL had tried to destroy Davis' Raiders. To take Davis' claims to their logical conclusion, he was asserting that the NFL was angry at him for moving the team out of Oakland, so they first conspired to "destroy the Raiders" and then conspired "to destroy the Invaders." It was a performance that would no doubt have earned the Trump Seal of Approval.
Davis further stated he had been asked to be the USFL's first commissioner as well as his opinion that Rozelle was wrong to tell Alfred Taubman (Panthers owner and Invaders half-owner after they merged) that Taubman would make "a good NFL owner." Davis admitted this was hearsay - he heard it from a friend (Ralph Wilson, Buffalo Bills) who heard it from a friend (Taubman).
The final USFL witness? ABC Sportscaster Howard Cosell.
June 25 -
In the fall of 1985, ABC sportscaster Howard Cosell made serious waves with his latest book, "I Never Played the Game." Cosell unloaded on a number of his then colleagues at ABC, everyone from Frank Gifford to OJ Simpson. The book was so controversial - and nothing sells like controversy - that ABC removed Cosell from television coverage of the 1985 World Series and replaced him with parallel windbag Tim McCarver, calling his first World Series of 13 and setting a new low standard of broadcast incompetence.
McCarver's appearance with Al Michaels and Jim Palmer was later panned as "three guys who showed up to read stats books during a baseball game."
Howard Cosell shows up - to be charitable about it - drunk on his ass, although most outlets don't mention that inconvenient truth. Cosell, himself a lawyer, spends 39 minutes introducing himself and putting on a show worthy of a late-night sketch on "Saturday Night Live," including reading the roster of the 1969 New York Jets. In typical fashion, Cosell is combative and presents himself as "the only person who tells it like it is." In all honesty, if Trump were a sportscaster with a scintilla of common sense, he'd probably have grown up to be Cosell.
Cosell's testimony lasts 3 1/2 rollicking hours, with his musings on all manner of subject. Rothman had once been Cosell's lawyer, a subject that came up in the trial. Using his trademark exaggerated baritone, Cosell said that although he had been subpoenaed, he would have volunteered to testify in this case of "David against a Goliath that controls the marketplace." Cosell asserted that the USFL would have begun their league in the fall if a truly open marketplace existed, but it didn't. Cosell contradicted his old boss and friend, Roone Arledge, as well as Jim Spence. He also claimed that Patriots VP Charles Sullivan had admitted to him that the NFL's 1984 supplemental draft of USFL players came perilously close to antitrust territory.
Cosell testifies that Trump had offered him a chance to become a minority owner of the Generals and that he is here "to help these people" (the USFL). Cosell spent much of his testimony sparring with Rothman, his former lawyer, over a number of things. At one point during his bloviating, Cosell interrupted himself with the observation, "This is irrelevant, Mr. Rothman, but it IS colorful." After Rothman followed one Cosell dissertation with the observation that "I'm not as smart as you," Cosell retorted with, "Well, Frank, we learned that long ago." According to William Mack of "Sports Illustrated, "Cosell scored points by punching back at Rothman with the observation that several men Rothman listed - including Tex Schramm and Leon Hess - "were not truthful in recent cases involving the National Football League." Cosell qualified his criticism with the observation they were "not villains." As Cosell walked out of the courtroom, he turned to a reporter and said, "What a performance!"
It was the kind of testimony Donald Trump had to have loved.
Larry Felser, however, was less than enamored with Cosell's self-centered performance, dismissing Cosell as "pathetic, a sour has-been striking out in all directions."
The USFL rested their case on June 25. The NFL was very concerned - enough so that Art Modell said they were nine points behind at halftime and needed to come back. Sorts Illustrated ran their July 7, 1986 cover story with the title, "Give The First Round To the USFL."
It was now time for the NFL to put their witnesses on the stand and present their side of the case.
Cosell testifies that NFL commissioner Rozelle is upset about the fact ABC gave the USFL a TV contract.
June 26 - the NFL began their case by introducing USFL internal documents by Tad Taube and the late John Bassett showing that in 1983, both men (USFL owners) had strenuously argued that the league needed a salary cap to survive long-term. Noting such was the USFL's original plan, both men conceded the league had rapidly moved away from the original plan. Taube's letter actually had the phrase, "We have met the enemy, and they are us."
The NFL's first witness called was former USFL commissioner Chet Simmons, also a former executive at ABC. Simmons was on point in his testimony, quickly blaming the USFL's rising salary costs on the 1984 Porter presentation.
Sportswriters are beginning to realize that even a loss in the case is very unlikely to actually harm the NFL. The NFL can simply delay any jury judgment through an appeals process that can keep the USFL from taking the field, and even assuming the jury demanded one of the networks cease showing NFL games, it did not mean that network would give the USFL a TV contract.
June 30 - Chet Simmons testifies that merger with the NFL was never the goal of the USFL. Simmons said he never heard any such thing at which point Rothman brought up Donald Trump's January 1984 bold declaration that challenging the NFL was the NFL's "biggest fear." Trump then declared the USFL would - within 18 months - have a league either stronger than the NFL or a merger. But Rothman also got Simmons in an apparent contradiction when the former commissioner said the league's 1984 relationship with ABC was "fragile" while a January 31, 1984 USFL letter said it was "healthy." Rothman left Simmons hanging with the question of how in the world something can be both healthy and fragile at the exact same time.
After a recess for the July 4 holiday, court resumed on July 7.
July 7 - Tex Schramm (Dallas Cowboys) testifies the Porter presentation was nothing more than a guide for middle management that was never implemented in any way. Taking Schramm through the report, Rothman elicited some devastating answers to the USFL's case.
One of the points was to hold a secret draft of players - a notion Schramm said was literally impossible. Another proposal was to "send undesirable players to the USFL," to which Schramm said, "How in the world could I force the USFL to sign them?" Schramm also testified to Myerson's cross-examination that Dallas had never signed a single player under contract to the USFL.
Myerson went after the NFL (and Schramm) by claiming that fully half of the 76 players chosen in the June 1984 NFL supplemental draft had signed contracts with NFL teams, which was proof that the USFL was a league of high quality. It was at this point Myerson then made a complete fool of himself.
Myerson used a copy of "TV Guide" to demonstrate that CBS had scheduled two episodes of the show "John Madden's Journeys" to air opposite USFL playoff games on consecutive Saturdays. Myerson's suggestion was that this was an attempt to drive down the USFL ratings. The fact Madden was basically being a sports version of Charles Kuralt in his "On the Road" persona did not deter Myerson. When Myerson broached the subject, Schramm somewhat incredulously said, "You mean that show where John Madden rides around the country in a bus," which resulted in courtroom laughter. Schramm then said that he didn't even know the show was on because "I was 400 miles out in the ocean fishing" the day the first aired and flying home the day the second aired. In the first show, Madden interviewed boxers while the second show was never aired because CBS chose to broadcast a golf tournament. Rothman, normally mild-mannered, even looked exasperated as he said, "This is ludicrous. It had nothing to do with football." The jury themselves erupted in laughter at the exchange.
Schramm testifies again on July 8 and early on July 9.
July 9 - Jets owner Leon Hess - alleged to be part of "The New York Conspiracy" - testifies for the NFL. Hess stated that he had had no desire to move to Jersey, but he wasn't left with much choice financially. Rothman also asked Schramm whether the NFL had ever played a USFL player whose contract obligations were not completed, which Schramm denied. Myerson then asked Schramm if the NFL had ever signed a USFL player who was still under contract for a later date, and Schramm said yes. This was considered a legal semantic battle (although my own mind immediately wonders how this is any different than Trump signing Lawrence Taylor to a contract starting in 1988).
July 16 - Will Grimes and Frederick Pierce - of ESPN and ABC - both testified that their decisions on USFL contracts were not due to any outside influence from the NFL and were strictly business decisions. Grimes's testimony also included some bad news for the entire USFL case - ESPN had offered a $70 million contract extension for the USFL that was never signed, partly because the USFL violated the letter of the law by not having teams in Chicago and Los Angeles. Repeatedly, Grimes said the NFL had nothing to do with the decision and that the main reason ESPN opted to televise USFL games in the first place was because "it is professional football" and they don't have a contract with the NFL.
Pete Rozelle - the first witness in the trial - is expected to be the last witness in the trial when Rothman calls him to rebut Trump's testimony about the 1984 Pierre Hotel meeting.
July 17 - under oath on the witness stand, NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle testified about the 1984 hotel meeting and with the exception of the name of the hotel and the date of the meeting, Rozelle and Trump disagreed on every single thing Trump said. Rozelle asserted that Trump had wanted to meet and reserved the hotel room. Rozelle said that Trump told him that he was the representative of the USFL and they were considering bringing a lawsuit "but I don't want to do this." Rozelle then said that Trump had informed him "I want an expansion team in New York City" in exchange for which Trump would "find some stiff" to unload the Generals on and "if I were to leave the USFL, it would be psychologically devastating to the USFL." Rozelle said that he told Trump that the very thing he was proposing was itself a violation of antitrust law, plus there would be substantial problems trying to have THREE NEW YORK teams all share the same stadium. On top of that, Rozelle noted, it wasn't in his power to give anyone a franchise anyway but that power would take 21 votes from the 28 owners in the NFL.
Myerson went after Rozelle with an obvious question that came out of Trump's assertion that Rozelle was "my friend." If Rozelle wasn't Trump's friend then why did he agree to have a meeting to discuss football on the same day Trump called him? Rozelle said it was because Trump was the owner of the New Jersey team in the other league and he wanted to see what he had to say.
The other point Rothman refuted was the USFL's contention that the Porter presentation had suggested the NFL show some bad games on "Monday Night Football" with teams such as Buffalo and Cincinnati. Rothman demonstrated that although both of those teams were, in fact, on the 1984 slate of games, the schedule had been agreed upon BEFORE and thus not as a RESULT OF the Porter presentation.
July 22 - the case USFL vs NFL is sent to for jury discussion. Frank Rothman framed the case thusly: "Who do you believe? Pete Rozelle or Donald Trump?" Based on the 40 days of testimony, everyone has figured out that the entire case comes down to that one question.
The NFL's first witness called was former USFL commissioner Chet Simmons, also a former executive at ABC. Simmons was on point in his testimony, quickly blaming the USFL's rising salary costs on the 1984 Porter presentation.
Sportswriters are beginning to realize that even a loss in the case is very unlikely to actually harm the NFL. The NFL can simply delay any jury judgment through an appeals process that can keep the USFL from taking the field, and even assuming the jury demanded one of the networks cease showing NFL games, it did not mean that network would give the USFL a TV contract.
June 30 - Chet Simmons testifies that merger with the NFL was never the goal of the USFL. Simmons said he never heard any such thing at which point Rothman brought up Donald Trump's January 1984 bold declaration that challenging the NFL was the NFL's "biggest fear." Trump then declared the USFL would - within 18 months - have a league either stronger than the NFL or a merger. But Rothman also got Simmons in an apparent contradiction when the former commissioner said the league's 1984 relationship with ABC was "fragile" while a January 31, 1984 USFL letter said it was "healthy." Rothman left Simmons hanging with the question of how in the world something can be both healthy and fragile at the exact same time.
After a recess for the July 4 holiday, court resumed on July 7.
July 7 - Tex Schramm (Dallas Cowboys) testifies the Porter presentation was nothing more than a guide for middle management that was never implemented in any way. Taking Schramm through the report, Rothman elicited some devastating answers to the USFL's case.
One of the points was to hold a secret draft of players - a notion Schramm said was literally impossible. Another proposal was to "send undesirable players to the USFL," to which Schramm said, "How in the world could I force the USFL to sign them?" Schramm also testified to Myerson's cross-examination that Dallas had never signed a single player under contract to the USFL.
Myerson went after the NFL (and Schramm) by claiming that fully half of the 76 players chosen in the June 1984 NFL supplemental draft had signed contracts with NFL teams, which was proof that the USFL was a league of high quality. It was at this point Myerson then made a complete fool of himself.
Myerson used a copy of "TV Guide" to demonstrate that CBS had scheduled two episodes of the show "John Madden's Journeys" to air opposite USFL playoff games on consecutive Saturdays. Myerson's suggestion was that this was an attempt to drive down the USFL ratings. The fact Madden was basically being a sports version of Charles Kuralt in his "On the Road" persona did not deter Myerson. When Myerson broached the subject, Schramm somewhat incredulously said, "You mean that show where John Madden rides around the country in a bus," which resulted in courtroom laughter. Schramm then said that he didn't even know the show was on because "I was 400 miles out in the ocean fishing" the day the first aired and flying home the day the second aired. In the first show, Madden interviewed boxers while the second show was never aired because CBS chose to broadcast a golf tournament. Rothman, normally mild-mannered, even looked exasperated as he said, "This is ludicrous. It had nothing to do with football." The jury themselves erupted in laughter at the exchange.
Schramm testifies again on July 8 and early on July 9.
July 9 - Jets owner Leon Hess - alleged to be part of "The New York Conspiracy" - testifies for the NFL. Hess stated that he had had no desire to move to Jersey, but he wasn't left with much choice financially. Rothman also asked Schramm whether the NFL had ever played a USFL player whose contract obligations were not completed, which Schramm denied. Myerson then asked Schramm if the NFL had ever signed a USFL player who was still under contract for a later date, and Schramm said yes. This was considered a legal semantic battle (although my own mind immediately wonders how this is any different than Trump signing Lawrence Taylor to a contract starting in 1988).
July 16 - Will Grimes and Frederick Pierce - of ESPN and ABC - both testified that their decisions on USFL contracts were not due to any outside influence from the NFL and were strictly business decisions. Grimes's testimony also included some bad news for the entire USFL case - ESPN had offered a $70 million contract extension for the USFL that was never signed, partly because the USFL violated the letter of the law by not having teams in Chicago and Los Angeles. Repeatedly, Grimes said the NFL had nothing to do with the decision and that the main reason ESPN opted to televise USFL games in the first place was because "it is professional football" and they don't have a contract with the NFL.
Pete Rozelle - the first witness in the trial - is expected to be the last witness in the trial when Rothman calls him to rebut Trump's testimony about the 1984 Pierre Hotel meeting.
July 17 - under oath on the witness stand, NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle testified about the 1984 hotel meeting and with the exception of the name of the hotel and the date of the meeting, Rozelle and Trump disagreed on every single thing Trump said. Rozelle asserted that Trump had wanted to meet and reserved the hotel room. Rozelle said that Trump told him that he was the representative of the USFL and they were considering bringing a lawsuit "but I don't want to do this." Rozelle then said that Trump had informed him "I want an expansion team in New York City" in exchange for which Trump would "find some stiff" to unload the Generals on and "if I were to leave the USFL, it would be psychologically devastating to the USFL." Rozelle said that he told Trump that the very thing he was proposing was itself a violation of antitrust law, plus there would be substantial problems trying to have THREE NEW YORK teams all share the same stadium. On top of that, Rozelle noted, it wasn't in his power to give anyone a franchise anyway but that power would take 21 votes from the 28 owners in the NFL.
Myerson went after Rozelle with an obvious question that came out of Trump's assertion that Rozelle was "my friend." If Rozelle wasn't Trump's friend then why did he agree to have a meeting to discuss football on the same day Trump called him? Rozelle said it was because Trump was the owner of the New Jersey team in the other league and he wanted to see what he had to say.
The other point Rothman refuted was the USFL's contention that the Porter presentation had suggested the NFL show some bad games on "Monday Night Football" with teams such as Buffalo and Cincinnati. Rothman demonstrated that although both of those teams were, in fact, on the 1984 slate of games, the schedule had been agreed upon BEFORE and thus not as a RESULT OF the Porter presentation.
July 22 - the case USFL vs NFL is sent to for jury discussion. Frank Rothman framed the case thusly: "Who do you believe? Pete Rozelle or Donald Trump?" Based on the 40 days of testimony, everyone has figured out that the entire case comes down to that one question.
July 29 - at 3:55 pm, the court clerk announced the verdict was at hand. Patricia McCabe, the jury foreperson, read the verdict.
"Do you find that the NFL monopolized the business of professional football? Yes."
Twenty-seven questions followed listing each team separately, and all 27 were said to have participated in the monopoly. The Los Angeles Raiders were not named in the suit.
This was earth-shattering news as the USFL had WON the lawsuit against the NFL. The NFL was actually cleared on eight other charges, but for all of about five minutes it seemed they'd been handed a major defeat.
The jury was then asked to assess damages. The USFL was asking for $1.69 BILLION dollars. The jury determined they were entitled to damages of....one dollar. Boston Herald reporter David Cataneo was the first to say, "Actually, it's $3. Damages in antitrust suits are trebled."
When the words one dollar went into the courtroom, New York Giants owner John Mara reached into his wallet and handed Donald Trump a dollar bill just so he could see the defeated look on Trump's face. But being Donald Trump, of course, there was no way on planet earth he was going to admit he was a loser. So Trump immediately began to declare the USFL had won "a moral victory" Trump, however, at least had the wisdom to send his secretary out to give his quote for history.
TRUMP:
"Now with the confusion and what seems to be a hung jury, we expect to be a total victory."
Rothman immediately went after that interpretation by saying that if you had a retrial for every case where one juror was confused, you wouldn't do anything except have a bunch of retrials. Rothman came under heavy criticism for his refusal to be flamboyant like Myerson but in the end, he won the trial. Rothman conceded up front that the NFL WAS a monopoly but that they had not in any way monopolized television.
Patriots owner Billy Sullivan said that he did not see any possible way to merge any USFL franchises into the NFL, saying, "We have all we need now."
Myerson, Trump, and Lee Scarfone - the new owner of the late John Bassett's Tampa Bay franchise now merged with Orlando - boldly insisted that because of the confusion of the jury, the USFL would win the case on appeal. Myerson set up a meeting with Judge Leisure on July 30 and insinuated that he would be able to get the damages boosted - this despite the fact that according to everything I'm reading, a judge cannot arbitrarily do that.
Sportswriters unloaded on Trump, pinning the USFL's defeat squarely on his shoulders, a narrative and proper interpretation that still is the reality today (35 years later).
Mike Gibson of the Doylestown Intelligencer (PA) wrote an amusing "obituary" for the USFL that summarized the case:
"The cause of death was severe head injuries cause by a collision with a Mack truck driven by Peter J. Rozelle, 54, of New York City."
"Trump said our kid was smarter than the other parents' kids. Even if our kid wasn't, Trump said, the other parents would have to accept our kid...Trump's baby never made it home; Rozelle's truck got in the way."
Another writer theorized that Rozelle was such a marketing genius that he was likely to issue a commemorative coin that would have two heads and no tails side. The heads side would feature former Kansas City Chief Buck Buchanan with the phrase, "Heads You Win, So What" and the....well, the OTHER heads side would be a picture of Rozelle with the phrase, "Don't Spend It All In One Place."
Steve Jacobson (Syracuse, NY) saw it best when he said the jurors saw Trump and Rozelle and were absolutely convinced that Trump would sell out anyone or anything to get a team in the NFL. Jacboson also reported a key fact - both of the "hard USFL jurors" (Miriam Sanchez and Margaret Lilenfield) BOTH said they believed Rozelle and not Donald Trump.
August 7 - the USFL at a final meeting dissolves itself other than for the appeal and releases 350 players still under contract to the league. They lose the appeals in 1989 and the NFL wins for basically paying about $5.5 million in USFL attorney fees.
In (one of my last) posts on this thread, we will look at how Donald Trump told HIS VERSION of what happened in his 1987 book, "The Art of the Deal."
"Do you find that the NFL monopolized the business of professional football? Yes."
Twenty-seven questions followed listing each team separately, and all 27 were said to have participated in the monopoly. The Los Angeles Raiders were not named in the suit.
This was earth-shattering news as the USFL had WON the lawsuit against the NFL. The NFL was actually cleared on eight other charges, but for all of about five minutes it seemed they'd been handed a major defeat.
The jury was then asked to assess damages. The USFL was asking for $1.69 BILLION dollars. The jury determined they were entitled to damages of....one dollar. Boston Herald reporter David Cataneo was the first to say, "Actually, it's $3. Damages in antitrust suits are trebled."
When the words one dollar went into the courtroom, New York Giants owner John Mara reached into his wallet and handed Donald Trump a dollar bill just so he could see the defeated look on Trump's face. But being Donald Trump, of course, there was no way on planet earth he was going to admit he was a loser. So Trump immediately began to declare the USFL had won "a moral victory" Trump, however, at least had the wisdom to send his secretary out to give his quote for history.
TRUMP:
"Now with the confusion and what seems to be a hung jury, we expect to be a total victory."
Rothman immediately went after that interpretation by saying that if you had a retrial for every case where one juror was confused, you wouldn't do anything except have a bunch of retrials. Rothman came under heavy criticism for his refusal to be flamboyant like Myerson but in the end, he won the trial. Rothman conceded up front that the NFL WAS a monopoly but that they had not in any way monopolized television.
Patriots owner Billy Sullivan said that he did not see any possible way to merge any USFL franchises into the NFL, saying, "We have all we need now."
Myerson, Trump, and Lee Scarfone - the new owner of the late John Bassett's Tampa Bay franchise now merged with Orlando - boldly insisted that because of the confusion of the jury, the USFL would win the case on appeal. Myerson set up a meeting with Judge Leisure on July 30 and insinuated that he would be able to get the damages boosted - this despite the fact that according to everything I'm reading, a judge cannot arbitrarily do that.
Sportswriters unloaded on Trump, pinning the USFL's defeat squarely on his shoulders, a narrative and proper interpretation that still is the reality today (35 years later).
Mike Gibson of the Doylestown Intelligencer (PA) wrote an amusing "obituary" for the USFL that summarized the case:
"The cause of death was severe head injuries cause by a collision with a Mack truck driven by Peter J. Rozelle, 54, of New York City."
"Trump said our kid was smarter than the other parents' kids. Even if our kid wasn't, Trump said, the other parents would have to accept our kid...Trump's baby never made it home; Rozelle's truck got in the way."
Another writer theorized that Rozelle was such a marketing genius that he was likely to issue a commemorative coin that would have two heads and no tails side. The heads side would feature former Kansas City Chief Buck Buchanan with the phrase, "Heads You Win, So What" and the....well, the OTHER heads side would be a picture of Rozelle with the phrase, "Don't Spend It All In One Place."
Steve Jacobson (Syracuse, NY) saw it best when he said the jurors saw Trump and Rozelle and were absolutely convinced that Trump would sell out anyone or anything to get a team in the NFL. Jacboson also reported a key fact - both of the "hard USFL jurors" (Miriam Sanchez and Margaret Lilenfield) BOTH said they believed Rozelle and not Donald Trump.
August 7 - the USFL at a final meeting dissolves itself other than for the appeal and releases 350 players still under contract to the league. They lose the appeals in 1989 and the NFL wins for basically paying about $5.5 million in USFL attorney fees.
In (one of my last) posts on this thread, we will look at how Donald Trump told HIS VERSION of what happened in his 1987 book, "The Art of the Deal."
Donald Trump was long considered a symbol of "the Go-Go 80s," a stereotype that has never really left him despite the fact he was little more than a long-running freak show and psychological nut case who - like bile in a nasty burp - won't go away. Trump finally released a sort of autobiography on November 1, 1987 written with Tony Schwarz entitled "The Art of the Deal." In chapter 11 - perhaps coincidentally but most certainly fittingly - Donald Trump puts his spin on what happened at the trial on display less than 15 months after the verdict came down. It is an exercise in self-justification and delusional psychosis - to say nothing of flat out bald-faced lying - that will not shock anyone who lived through this Presidency. Though I was young at the time, when many of my classmates were telling me they voted for Trump, I shook my head and said, "Don't you remember what he did to the USFL?" When they said that was long ago, I'd say I would normally agree - if the man had shown ANY sort of ability to learn from his screw-ups.
I will be quoting sentences and clips from Chapter 11 of his book (I'm sorry, it just makes me chuckle to say that). I will focus on some small points and make a few comments. The book is in bold script and my response or clarification is in normal script.
I also liked the idea of taking on the NFL, a smug, self-satisfied monopoly that I believed was highly vulnerable to an aggressive competitor.
Just because you believed something didn't make it true. You still believed in 2017 that people want to go back into hot factories and work.
By the time I bought the New Jersey Generals in the fall of 1983, the league was already failing badly.
The league's most recent game was the highest rated one it ever had. But whatever.
For less than $6 million....I was able to purchase a professional football team
He paid $10 million for a franchise worth $8 million - because he's a complete tool.
The main problems with the USFL seemed fairly clear-cut and not all that difficult to remedy. The first was that the league was playing its games in the spring.
Because that was the original and agreed upon plan.
The second challenge was to build a first-class product. To me, that meant spending whatever money it took to sign top players, promote our teams, and create the sort of excitement that would make us a legitimate competitor for the NFL’s fans and TV dollars.
This was also not the original and agreed upon plan, which is why we read about the USFL being dead.
The New Jersey Generals were a disaster. They’d just come off a season in which they’d won only four games and lost fourteen.
They were 6-12, but I guess if he lowers the number of wins, he can exaggerate how important he is, right?
Two leagues had been launched previously in competition with the NFL, and the outcome in each case was highly instructive.
Actually, there were FOUR DIFFERENT rival leagues that used the name American Football League that were in competition with the NFL. It was the fourth one that merged with them. The other three are dead like the USFL. And there were other leagues like the AAFC. The NFL has had competition from about ten rival leagues.
The American Football League was formed in 1962 by eight very wealthy entrepreneurial men.
It was 1959, and Lamar Hunt inherited his wealth just like you did. The difference was that Hunt was a polite and beloved man who didn't act like a complete jerk. Most of those guys were affiliated with the NFL - and the NFL even announced the creation of the AFL during a Congressional hearing on whether or not the NFL was a monopoly. These guys were actually great friends with each other and the AFL was NOT some league created to destroy the NFL or merge with it. It just wound up happening that way.
With the AFL raids escalating, NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle surrendered.
HA HA HA!! You KNOW he wanted that line in the book - Pete Rozelle got whipped, beaten into submission, made into Lamar Hunt's...you know the word. Which is fine except that's not at all what happened. In fact, Hunt and Tex Schramm lived down the street from each other in Dallas and were discussing this for years. Wanna know what gave them a shove? Al Davis - the most Donald Trump like owner in NFL history (other than Jerry Jones, who wasn't an owner in 1987) - was the AFL commissioner, and everyone thought he was at least a tad bit crazy.
The other venture that tried to compete with the NFL was the World Football League. It was launched in 1973, but by men of much less wealth and more limited vision.
They were losers, right? I guess Trump doesn't know about the WFL signing up a bunch of NFL players, especially on the Dolphins, in a foreshadowing of what NOT to do to build your league.
If there was a single key miscalculation I made with the USFL, it was evaluating the strength of my fellow owners. In any partnership, you’re only as strong as your weakest link.
They were all weak, Donald was strong. Keep in mind he was the idiot who was driving the car into the side of the mountain with no gas but yeah - it was someone else's fault.
Unfortunately, I quickly discovered that a number of USFL owners lacked the financial resources and the competitive vision to build the sort of top-quality league necessary to defeat the NFL.
Why would Eddie DeBartolo Sr want to destroy the league where his son was creating a wealthy franchise? This was YOUR obsession, nobody else's.
Getting (Brian) Sipe was a chance to help the Generals and the USFL and simultaneously to hurt the NFL.
Sipe was a mostly one-year wonder (1980) who had led the NFL in INTs twice and was fourth in 1983 on a 9-7 team that missed the playoffs. Oh yeah, and he was 34 years old.
we’d already lured away several other top NFL players. The first was Gary Barbaro,
Who was holding out from the NFL because they'd offered him 3 years and $900,000, while you offered him $75,000 less....but guaranteed the money. He tore his ACL early in his ONE SEASON with your team and tore it again when he came back too soon, ending his career. Your negotiating savvy is second to nobody to get taken for nearly a million bucks.
Kerry Justin....Willie Harper...Bobby Leopold...
Justin wasn't really any good, Harper was 33 years old and had played in the NFL for 11 years without making a single All-Pro team, and Bobby Leopold was a reserve who couldn't crack the starting lineup after his rookie year in San Francisco.
You didn't sign anything the NFL even wanted.
My aggressiveness in signing NFL players also seemed to inspire other USFL owners.
And destroyed the league.
Meanwhile, the NFL was beginning to run scared.
But at least they weren't running on bone spurs.
When it comes to making a smart decision, the most distinguished planning committee working with the highest-priced consultants doesn’t hold a candle to a group of guys with a reasonable amount of common sense and their own money on the line.
Neither of which you have or ever did.
It was obvious to me that the NFL was putting enormous pressure on the networks not to do business with us in the fall—particularly on ABC, with whom we already had a contract for the spring.
But wouldn't ABC be making decisions with their own money on the line and use common sense????
This guy is great at seeing conspiracies that don't exist. Good thing he was never President.
Pete Rozelle later testified that he’d never even discussed the issue with Roone Arledge, the head of ABC Sports. To me, that was preposterous. Rozelle and Arledge are longtime colleagues and good friends.
Because Pete Rozelle didn't act like you are sure you would, he had to be lying. Ok.
While the Generals had improved greatly, to 9–5,
Actually, they were 14-4, but it's not like you can expect the team owner to know how many games they played or won...
My own solution was to go after the best and most exciting college senior... Doug Flutie
You paid millions for a guy the NFL didn't even want. I mean, again!
Brian Sipe was a proven star, but he was also thirty-five years old, and his best years were probably behind him.
This is the same guy who only 12 months earlier you gave a guaranteed THREE-YEAR contract.
Flutie made his debut on February 24, in an away game against the Birmingham Stallions. He started slow but came on very strong and almost pulled out a victory by leading the Generals to three touchdowns in the fourth quarter.
He was down 31-7 and facing a prevent defense after not hitting a receiver until the 3rd quarter. You were never close to winning that game.
On March 10, we had our home opener against the L.A. Express. If I had to pick a high point for the USFL, it was probably that game. Over 60,000 fans turned up, anticipating a duel between the newcomer Flutie and the USFL’s best proven quarterback, Steve Young. Both players put on dazzling shows, and better yet, the Generals came out on top. Flutie threw for two fourth-quarter touchdowns, to give us the victory, 35–24.
He got much of it right except for the fact Flutie was 7 for 19 for 188 yards and didn't throw a single TD pass, but he did run in 3 rushing TDs.
I will be quoting sentences and clips from Chapter 11 of his book (I'm sorry, it just makes me chuckle to say that). I will focus on some small points and make a few comments. The book is in bold script and my response or clarification is in normal script.
I also liked the idea of taking on the NFL, a smug, self-satisfied monopoly that I believed was highly vulnerable to an aggressive competitor.
Just because you believed something didn't make it true. You still believed in 2017 that people want to go back into hot factories and work.
By the time I bought the New Jersey Generals in the fall of 1983, the league was already failing badly.
The league's most recent game was the highest rated one it ever had. But whatever.
For less than $6 million....I was able to purchase a professional football team
He paid $10 million for a franchise worth $8 million - because he's a complete tool.
The main problems with the USFL seemed fairly clear-cut and not all that difficult to remedy. The first was that the league was playing its games in the spring.
Because that was the original and agreed upon plan.
The second challenge was to build a first-class product. To me, that meant spending whatever money it took to sign top players, promote our teams, and create the sort of excitement that would make us a legitimate competitor for the NFL’s fans and TV dollars.
This was also not the original and agreed upon plan, which is why we read about the USFL being dead.
The New Jersey Generals were a disaster. They’d just come off a season in which they’d won only four games and lost fourteen.
They were 6-12, but I guess if he lowers the number of wins, he can exaggerate how important he is, right?
Two leagues had been launched previously in competition with the NFL, and the outcome in each case was highly instructive.
Actually, there were FOUR DIFFERENT rival leagues that used the name American Football League that were in competition with the NFL. It was the fourth one that merged with them. The other three are dead like the USFL. And there were other leagues like the AAFC. The NFL has had competition from about ten rival leagues.
The American Football League was formed in 1962 by eight very wealthy entrepreneurial men.
It was 1959, and Lamar Hunt inherited his wealth just like you did. The difference was that Hunt was a polite and beloved man who didn't act like a complete jerk. Most of those guys were affiliated with the NFL - and the NFL even announced the creation of the AFL during a Congressional hearing on whether or not the NFL was a monopoly. These guys were actually great friends with each other and the AFL was NOT some league created to destroy the NFL or merge with it. It just wound up happening that way.
With the AFL raids escalating, NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle surrendered.
HA HA HA!! You KNOW he wanted that line in the book - Pete Rozelle got whipped, beaten into submission, made into Lamar Hunt's...you know the word. Which is fine except that's not at all what happened. In fact, Hunt and Tex Schramm lived down the street from each other in Dallas and were discussing this for years. Wanna know what gave them a shove? Al Davis - the most Donald Trump like owner in NFL history (other than Jerry Jones, who wasn't an owner in 1987) - was the AFL commissioner, and everyone thought he was at least a tad bit crazy.
The other venture that tried to compete with the NFL was the World Football League. It was launched in 1973, but by men of much less wealth and more limited vision.
They were losers, right? I guess Trump doesn't know about the WFL signing up a bunch of NFL players, especially on the Dolphins, in a foreshadowing of what NOT to do to build your league.
If there was a single key miscalculation I made with the USFL, it was evaluating the strength of my fellow owners. In any partnership, you’re only as strong as your weakest link.
They were all weak, Donald was strong. Keep in mind he was the idiot who was driving the car into the side of the mountain with no gas but yeah - it was someone else's fault.
Unfortunately, I quickly discovered that a number of USFL owners lacked the financial resources and the competitive vision to build the sort of top-quality league necessary to defeat the NFL.
Why would Eddie DeBartolo Sr want to destroy the league where his son was creating a wealthy franchise? This was YOUR obsession, nobody else's.
Getting (Brian) Sipe was a chance to help the Generals and the USFL and simultaneously to hurt the NFL.
Sipe was a mostly one-year wonder (1980) who had led the NFL in INTs twice and was fourth in 1983 on a 9-7 team that missed the playoffs. Oh yeah, and he was 34 years old.
we’d already lured away several other top NFL players. The first was Gary Barbaro,
Who was holding out from the NFL because they'd offered him 3 years and $900,000, while you offered him $75,000 less....but guaranteed the money. He tore his ACL early in his ONE SEASON with your team and tore it again when he came back too soon, ending his career. Your negotiating savvy is second to nobody to get taken for nearly a million bucks.
Kerry Justin....Willie Harper...Bobby Leopold...
Justin wasn't really any good, Harper was 33 years old and had played in the NFL for 11 years without making a single All-Pro team, and Bobby Leopold was a reserve who couldn't crack the starting lineup after his rookie year in San Francisco.
You didn't sign anything the NFL even wanted.
My aggressiveness in signing NFL players also seemed to inspire other USFL owners.
And destroyed the league.
Meanwhile, the NFL was beginning to run scared.
But at least they weren't running on bone spurs.
When it comes to making a smart decision, the most distinguished planning committee working with the highest-priced consultants doesn’t hold a candle to a group of guys with a reasonable amount of common sense and their own money on the line.
Neither of which you have or ever did.
It was obvious to me that the NFL was putting enormous pressure on the networks not to do business with us in the fall—particularly on ABC, with whom we already had a contract for the spring.
But wouldn't ABC be making decisions with their own money on the line and use common sense????
This guy is great at seeing conspiracies that don't exist. Good thing he was never President.
Pete Rozelle later testified that he’d never even discussed the issue with Roone Arledge, the head of ABC Sports. To me, that was preposterous. Rozelle and Arledge are longtime colleagues and good friends.
Because Pete Rozelle didn't act like you are sure you would, he had to be lying. Ok.
While the Generals had improved greatly, to 9–5,
Actually, they were 14-4, but it's not like you can expect the team owner to know how many games they played or won...
My own solution was to go after the best and most exciting college senior... Doug Flutie
You paid millions for a guy the NFL didn't even want. I mean, again!
Brian Sipe was a proven star, but he was also thirty-five years old, and his best years were probably behind him.
This is the same guy who only 12 months earlier you gave a guaranteed THREE-YEAR contract.
Flutie made his debut on February 24, in an away game against the Birmingham Stallions. He started slow but came on very strong and almost pulled out a victory by leading the Generals to three touchdowns in the fourth quarter.
He was down 31-7 and facing a prevent defense after not hitting a receiver until the 3rd quarter. You were never close to winning that game.
On March 10, we had our home opener against the L.A. Express. If I had to pick a high point for the USFL, it was probably that game. Over 60,000 fans turned up, anticipating a duel between the newcomer Flutie and the USFL’s best proven quarterback, Steve Young. Both players put on dazzling shows, and better yet, the Generals came out on top. Flutie threw for two fourth-quarter touchdowns, to give us the victory, 35–24.
He got much of it right except for the fact Flutie was 7 for 19 for 188 yards and didn't throw a single TD pass, but he did run in 3 rushing TDs.
The day after Flutie’s great game, I wrote a letter to Harry Usher, our new commissioner, suggesting that the cost of Flutie’s contract be shared among all USFL owners—on the grounds that Flutie’s promotional value was leaguewide.
Actually, you claimed that they had agreed to do this, and you were a jerk about it. They basically told you to go screw yourself. Presenting it this way isn't how it happened (and you don't even mention your fake spokesman).
SLEAZE BALL ALERT!!!
What I’ll never know is whether Bassett’s illness affected his judgment that day. In any case, Bassett agreed to be interviewed by ABC announcer Keith Jackson, who began by asking what he thought was wrong with the USFL. What followed was a tirade. Before a national TV audience, Bassett viciously criticized the concept of moving the USFL to the fall. He called the league its own worst enemy. He said the USFL was guilty of mismanagement and virtually every other horrible sin he could conjure up. I caught the interview on a TV monitor in the press box, and I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. My first thought was that Bassett would make a great witness for the NFL in our antitrust suit. My second thought was that he was just a terribly frustrated man, thoughtlessly venting anger.
Unfortunately, Doug Flutie was injured late in the 1985 season, and that almost certainly cost us the USFL championship. In the playoffs, we lost by three points to the transplanted Baltimore Stars, while Flutie stood on the sidelines.
Flutie could have played, but the coach thought he was a liability because, well, he was. He was the worst starting QB in the USFL at the time he went down with an injury.
The problem is that a pool of randomly selected jurors isn’t necessarily qualified to make judgments on complicated issues.
Hell, judges Trump selected aren't necessarily qualified to make these judgments.
We got to present our side first, and very quickly, a consensus formed in the courtroom that Harvey Myerson was beating the living daylights out of the NFL. He put Commissioner Pete Rozelle on the stand and almost literally took him apart. For twenty-six years, Rozelle had been running the NFL very successfully and very smoothly. Of course, you don’t have to be a genius to run a monopoly. Put that same man up against a tough competitor, and it may be a whole different story.
Actually, nobody thought this besides maybe Donald Trump and a few of Harvey Myerson's mistresses.
The one time I myself directly contradicted Rozelle’s testimony was over his description of a meeting the two of us had in March 1984.
Well, you disagreed with what he said. But he won the case because the jury believed what he said about that meeting and not what you said.
At Rozelle’s suggestion, I rented a suite at the Pierre Hotel for a meeting on March 12.
So you're saying this guy who isn't a genius who runs a monopoly conned you into being the one who set up a meeting you wanted but he didn't so that he could later point out you set up the meeting? You're kind of dumb at this.
Rozelle testified at the trial that during our meeting I told him I was interested in purchasing an NFL franchise, and that I’d get out of the USFL if I could get into the NFL. It was ridiculous on the face of it. I never had any interest in owning a football franchise outside of the New York area,
You yourself testified you wanted to buy the Baltimore Colts - in the very same trial.
He said he considered me a good candidate for an NFL franchise, whether it was the Generals, through merger, or an NFL team, which he said he could help me get.
Even after the trial testimony made it clear, Trump still pretends he didn't have to get the approval of 21 owners.
The headline of a story in Sports Illustrated caught the mood best. GIVE THE FIRST ROUND TO THE USFL ,
That same article said you folks were gonna have trouble with Tad Taube's memo.
Looking back, I think our strength may have backfired, just as the NFL’s weakness ended up prompting the jury’s sympathy.
You see, he lost but HE was the STRONGER one here!!!!
Like Rozelle, who became sick and was so unconvincing during his cross-examination,
There was literally not one single objective observer who found Rozelle unconvincing
the NFL lawyer, Frank Rothman, was so weak and ashen-faced the last days of the trial that everyone, including me, felt very bad for him. Many didn’t even believe he would be able to finish, and in fact he was rushed to a hospital for a major operation shortly after the trial’s conclusion.
As a reminder, it was TRUMP'S lawyer (not Rothman) who came down ill and postponed the trial for week while Myerson's weak self was in the hospital with a viral infection.
I'm not one to pile on people, but this level of preposterous nonsense is what we lived with.
In truth, of course, the wealthy, powerful NFL owners cowered only to the extent that it served their ends. In retrospect, we might have been better off to put on the witness stand several of the smaller USFL owners who’d lost their shirts and had genuinely sad stories to tell.
But YOU and YOUR SMART LAWYER told them to stay away from New York out of fear they'd be called as witnesses and undercut your story.
What I never anticipated was that we could win—and end up losing anyway.
Hillary Clinton knows how you feel.
When the jurors were interviewed by reporters immediately after the verdict was announced, it turned out that they’d been deeply divided.
They were divided over the verdict, but they were - in fact - 6-0 against you.
At least two of them had wanted to award us substantial damages.
Which means that four didn't......
One, a schoolteacher named Miriam Sanchez, had favored giving us damages of $300 million but said that she’d misunderstood the mechanism for doing so.
Miriam Sanchez also called Rozelle's office after the trial as did another juror and stated he had done well and you had done poorly - and they believed him over you. They just thought that the league had been damaged and wanted the NFL to pay. One of the jurors felt that all that was going to happen if the NFL had to pay out was the compromise would be to absorb the USFL into the league and they'd still be a monopoly - so why force them to take in the USFL?
CONCLUSION
Well, there you have it. As usual, it was longer than I intended, but I hope it took you back a little bit. I learned a few things I didn't really know, but I did know about Trump. And the Donald Trump elected President in 2016 was the exact same self-centered, lacking in self-awareness, lacking any concrete plan of action, reactive, bull shooters who ever came down the pike. But at least when he destroyed the USFL, it just hurt some guys who shouldn't have been playing pro football in the first place.
His Presidency killed at least 400,000 Americans.
The end.
Actually, you claimed that they had agreed to do this, and you were a jerk about it. They basically told you to go screw yourself. Presenting it this way isn't how it happened (and you don't even mention your fake spokesman).
SLEAZE BALL ALERT!!!
What I’ll never know is whether Bassett’s illness affected his judgment that day. In any case, Bassett agreed to be interviewed by ABC announcer Keith Jackson, who began by asking what he thought was wrong with the USFL. What followed was a tirade. Before a national TV audience, Bassett viciously criticized the concept of moving the USFL to the fall. He called the league its own worst enemy. He said the USFL was guilty of mismanagement and virtually every other horrible sin he could conjure up. I caught the interview on a TV monitor in the press box, and I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. My first thought was that Bassett would make a great witness for the NFL in our antitrust suit. My second thought was that he was just a terribly frustrated man, thoughtlessly venting anger.
Unfortunately, Doug Flutie was injured late in the 1985 season, and that almost certainly cost us the USFL championship. In the playoffs, we lost by three points to the transplanted Baltimore Stars, while Flutie stood on the sidelines.
Flutie could have played, but the coach thought he was a liability because, well, he was. He was the worst starting QB in the USFL at the time he went down with an injury.
The problem is that a pool of randomly selected jurors isn’t necessarily qualified to make judgments on complicated issues.
Hell, judges Trump selected aren't necessarily qualified to make these judgments.
We got to present our side first, and very quickly, a consensus formed in the courtroom that Harvey Myerson was beating the living daylights out of the NFL. He put Commissioner Pete Rozelle on the stand and almost literally took him apart. For twenty-six years, Rozelle had been running the NFL very successfully and very smoothly. Of course, you don’t have to be a genius to run a monopoly. Put that same man up against a tough competitor, and it may be a whole different story.
Actually, nobody thought this besides maybe Donald Trump and a few of Harvey Myerson's mistresses.
The one time I myself directly contradicted Rozelle’s testimony was over his description of a meeting the two of us had in March 1984.
Well, you disagreed with what he said. But he won the case because the jury believed what he said about that meeting and not what you said.
At Rozelle’s suggestion, I rented a suite at the Pierre Hotel for a meeting on March 12.
So you're saying this guy who isn't a genius who runs a monopoly conned you into being the one who set up a meeting you wanted but he didn't so that he could later point out you set up the meeting? You're kind of dumb at this.
Rozelle testified at the trial that during our meeting I told him I was interested in purchasing an NFL franchise, and that I’d get out of the USFL if I could get into the NFL. It was ridiculous on the face of it. I never had any interest in owning a football franchise outside of the New York area,
You yourself testified you wanted to buy the Baltimore Colts - in the very same trial.
He said he considered me a good candidate for an NFL franchise, whether it was the Generals, through merger, or an NFL team, which he said he could help me get.
Even after the trial testimony made it clear, Trump still pretends he didn't have to get the approval of 21 owners.
The headline of a story in Sports Illustrated caught the mood best. GIVE THE FIRST ROUND TO THE USFL ,
That same article said you folks were gonna have trouble with Tad Taube's memo.
Looking back, I think our strength may have backfired, just as the NFL’s weakness ended up prompting the jury’s sympathy.
You see, he lost but HE was the STRONGER one here!!!!
Like Rozelle, who became sick and was so unconvincing during his cross-examination,
There was literally not one single objective observer who found Rozelle unconvincing
the NFL lawyer, Frank Rothman, was so weak and ashen-faced the last days of the trial that everyone, including me, felt very bad for him. Many didn’t even believe he would be able to finish, and in fact he was rushed to a hospital for a major operation shortly after the trial’s conclusion.
As a reminder, it was TRUMP'S lawyer (not Rothman) who came down ill and postponed the trial for week while Myerson's weak self was in the hospital with a viral infection.
I'm not one to pile on people, but this level of preposterous nonsense is what we lived with.
In truth, of course, the wealthy, powerful NFL owners cowered only to the extent that it served their ends. In retrospect, we might have been better off to put on the witness stand several of the smaller USFL owners who’d lost their shirts and had genuinely sad stories to tell.
But YOU and YOUR SMART LAWYER told them to stay away from New York out of fear they'd be called as witnesses and undercut your story.
What I never anticipated was that we could win—and end up losing anyway.
Hillary Clinton knows how you feel.
When the jurors were interviewed by reporters immediately after the verdict was announced, it turned out that they’d been deeply divided.
They were divided over the verdict, but they were - in fact - 6-0 against you.
At least two of them had wanted to award us substantial damages.
Which means that four didn't......
One, a schoolteacher named Miriam Sanchez, had favored giving us damages of $300 million but said that she’d misunderstood the mechanism for doing so.
Miriam Sanchez also called Rozelle's office after the trial as did another juror and stated he had done well and you had done poorly - and they believed him over you. They just thought that the league had been damaged and wanted the NFL to pay. One of the jurors felt that all that was going to happen if the NFL had to pay out was the compromise would be to absorb the USFL into the league and they'd still be a monopoly - so why force them to take in the USFL?
CONCLUSION
Well, there you have it. As usual, it was longer than I intended, but I hope it took you back a little bit. I learned a few things I didn't really know, but I did know about Trump. And the Donald Trump elected President in 2016 was the exact same self-centered, lacking in self-awareness, lacking any concrete plan of action, reactive, bull shooters who ever came down the pike. But at least when he destroyed the USFL, it just hurt some guys who shouldn't have been playing pro football in the first place.
His Presidency killed at least 400,000 Americans.
The end.
@selmaborntidefan
Thank you taking what I assume was a considerable amount of time to put that together. I’m not old enough to have any awareness of any of that.
I really enjoyed both your insights and your writing style.
Thank you taking what I assume was a considerable amount of time to put that together. I’m not old enough to have any awareness of any of that.
I really enjoyed both your insights and your writing style.
I came across Pearlman’s book in a bookstore a couple years ago. I spent about an hour skimming through it, hitting the Trump highlights mostly.
I’m not naive enough to think he didn’t do this book without a little bit of political intent. But it was well researched and showed me a side of the man I long suspected, a bully and a poor businessman.
I’m not naive enough to think he didn’t do this book without a little bit of political intent. But it was well researched and showed me a side of the man I long suspected, a bully and a poor businessman.
I would be a little bit more hard-edged if I wasn't trying (to some degree) to be taken seriously on the subject. My brother writes the news copy for a station in Rhode Island, and he saw me put the link on someone else's Facebook page. He said he thoroughly enjoyed some of the comments - to the point he said that drinking a soda while reading my stuff might not be the smartest thing to do.
I told him this was MILD by comparison to my usual cynical way, but when treating something as HISTORY rather than POLEMICS, it has to be done at least mildly enough that nobody will think, "Oh, he just hates Donald Trump." I don't know if Trump was the worst President we've ever had - history will judge that. However, there is little question in my mind that during the last century (at least), he is the WORST HUMAN BEING to ever occupy the White House in the office of President. Let's say whatever negative stuff we want about Harding, Nixon, Clinton, Dubya, whomever - ALL of those guys had lines that while they were further than they should have been, even they wouldn't have crossed.
I'm going to include at least one more post with quotations from Trump - and about him - from the ESPN "30 for 30." Keith Jackson and Burt Reynolds, in particular, were never fooled by this loud mouthed New Yorker.
Yeah, I thought the timing of the book was incredibly convenient to find an audience - coming out right as Trump gets elected and we're having the whole National Anthem brouhaha (which featured very few brews and very few ha has). So the timing to me was suspect, and the painting of Trump as the soul of Darth Vader with the planning skills of Wile E. Coyote seemed just a tad bit too "clean" to me.
But I researched every single thing in that book that Pearlman said about Trump (that was not merely Pearlman giving an opinion or gut punching Trump) and NOT ONE SINGLE THING he wrote was historically wrong. The one thing I think he failed to do that would have made it clearer in the text of the book - he did not make it crystal clear that Pete Rozelle had zero power to give Trump a franchise and such requires the approval of 3/4 of the current ownership. Most fans don't even know this particular aspect of football business, so I thought that would have been a more solid point in favor of the NFL had Pearlman stated it. Now - he may have done so in the footnotes (which are very inconvenient to read in an online book, which is why I haven't combed through them the way I normally do in other readings), but it needed to spelled out, almost spoon fed, even to his target audience. If you're on the jury, that 21 of 28 owner approval is perhaps the most critical point at "do I believe Rozelle or Trump?"
One might possibly believe that Rozelle could pressure the networks, threaten them, suggest doing things to get even with them. But there's no way Rozelle could possibly have given Trump a franchise - and that's exactly what Trump claimed under oath that Rozelle did.
Trump.
McMahon was a guy who took one of his legendary gambles (which is all Wrestlemania was and a lot of people who weren't alive then don't realize how precariously close to out of business Vinny Mac was then. The entire history of wrestling hinged on that show).
Trump basically walked in and took over what was a smart business plan and insisted he knew better than anybody else. He wants to say "the league was failing" because it lost $50 million in 1983 - but that was known to be the long-term plan of business. Furthermore, all he was doing was using people to further his own goal of owning an NFL team. It went out of business LARGELY because of Donald Trump, who escaped unscathed from it.
I couldn’t see the NFL putting a third franchise in the NYC market. There are two “no” votes right there.
Rozelle could twist all the arms he wanted but he couldn’t just award someone a franchise. The only two expansion teams under Rozelle after the merger were Tampa Bay and Seattle in 1976 and they were part of the merger agreement.
Rozelle could twist all the arms he wanted but he couldn’t just award someone a franchise. The only two expansion teams under Rozelle after the merger were Tampa Bay and Seattle in 1976 and they were part of the merger agreement.
Correct.
It made a ton more sense to put franchises on Jacksonville, Charlotte - and replacement ones in Cleveland and Houston - than putting a third team in the New York City area (aside from which the Buffalo Bills are also in New York).
Indeed, the only way I can see NFL owners approving such a merger in the first place is if the Gamblers/Generals moved BACK to Houston - and make it contingent on Trump selling the team.
Even had the USFL won, they weren't going to stay in business, and Trump was never going to own an NFL team, either.
When the USFL died on July 29, 1986, you didn't hear a whole lot about the league ever again. Yeah, you'd hear for years during TV coverage of games (on occasion) about "player X" got his start in the USFL but that was about it. In all honesty, I knew very little about the narrative or the history or anything.
And then on October 20, 2009, ESPN's (usually) excellent "30 for 30" premiered a new episode, this one about the USFL, called "Small Potatoes: Who Killed the USFL?" The title, in all honesty, gives away the bias inherent in the story, which was produced by Mike Tollin, whose company had the exclusive rights to film USFL games. Obviously this is a good source for such a documentary, but in all honesty, the documentary (even in 2009) seemed a very superficial way to tell the story even if one agrees (as I ultimately do) with the assessment.
Trump - in 2009 - was going on his 32nd year as a potential candidate for President of the United States, but the bloom was off the rose. Trump's name had first been mentioned as a possible candidate during the 1988 campaign - an election year that if Jon Mecham is to be believed in his 2015 biography of President George H.W. Bush, Trump notified Republican consultant Lee Atwater about his availability to be Bush's running mate, an offer that per Mecham was viewed by Bush as "strange and unbelievable." But starting in 1989, the Trump empire began to crack into pieces as his affair with Marla Maples (and subsequent divorce from Ivana) happened followed by his first business bankruptcy in 1990, a year that saw the June 12, 1990 edition of "The CBS Evening News With Dan Rather" pointing out that Trump's accountants had said that to bring his finances back into good standing, Trump would have to reduce his personal spending from $450,000 per day to "only" $350,000 per day (poor baby).
I only mention this because while I can be seriously skeptical of the timing of both Mecham's sudden announcement (Fall of 2015 as Trump is rising in the polls) or Pearlman's book (just after Trump takes office), the documentary regarding the USFL airs during a political "off off-year" and it's not as though Trump is even considered a serious potential candidate at that point in time. Again - none of these things are determinative on their own, but there is a long history of sudden disclosures when a person reaches for the Presidency, too.
In a documentary that runs 53 minutes of air time (and thus enabled ESPN to throw in an additional 37 minutes of commercials to mimic NBC's typical Summer Olympics coverage), Tollin takes us on a rapid-fire intro and overview of the brief history of the United States Football League. Many people - some famous, some soon to become famous - are quoted in the documentary. Donald Trump, meanwhile, is at his absolutely arrogant best (or worst if you will), so I will feature a number of his quotes in this post just to reaffirm what this thread has already established. I will also include a number of comments others made about Trump at the time.
The term "small potatoes" is actually uttered by Trump at the close of his interview with Tollin, who had the foresight and initiative to use it as the title of his documentary, deftly hanging the insult around Trump's neck.
TRUMP:
"We just signed the best free safety in the NFL, Gary Barbaro...."
(Again, I covered this. Barbaro wasn't even playing in the NFL at the time).
"To be honest with you, I don't think about the USFL...it was fun, we had a great lawsuit...."
"Charley Steiner was a nobody, he couldn't get a job...I'd love to take him on just like I take everybody else on."
(Actually, Steiner was the morning drive sportscaster for WOR Radio in New York at the time).
"...the spring was a wasteland. And I came into this league on the basis and predicated on the fact that I thought the league would move to the fall."
"I don't think it was too quick. We had owners that were dying (that's quite a low blow given Bassett's health). We had owners that couldn't pay their bills. And when you have that, you have to act a little bit quickly."
"I never liked spring football. Everything I do is sort of at the highest level."
"A Doug Flutie comes along every 10 years, 20 years."
"They know they're not gonna win this case, they know there's virtually no chance.."
Trump on the evening news on the first day of the trial
"I think, honestly, the NFL did a very good job in that they DID lose a big antitrust case. But they convinced everybody that Trump is very rich, he doesn't need the money. So the jury said, "We're gonna give the victory to Trump, but he doesn't need the money." And that was very smart of them."
"Frankly, I would have been better off if I went in and just bought an NFL team. It would have been a lot easier." (Yes - Donald Trump thinks persuading six jurors was harder than persuading 21 millionaires).
"People can try and blame Trump or whatever they want to do...that's the story of my life."
"I got the league to go as far as it went. I think that without me this league would have folded a lot sooner."
OTHERS:
"I hold onto my wallet when I shake his hand, but I like him."
Actor Burt Reynolds, who was a General Partner with the Tampa Bay Bandits
"He was a dynamic figure, but he was dynamic on behalf of Donald Trump's interests, not the whole league."
Legendary sportscaster Keith Jackson
"John (Bassett) was always logical because of his background...and Donald was illogical."
USFL Commissioner Chet Simmons
"You just can't all of a sudden say, 'We're gonna be on the same par as the NFL.' That was - to me - the silliest thing I'd ever heard."
Jackson
"To go head to head with them was insane."
Reynolds
"Greed and patience don't live together very well. Donald Trump was not happy being involved with what some people were still wont to call a second-level franchise...league...team, anything like that. And I think fundamentally the one word you could use to describe why the USFL went away would be 'greed.'"
Jackson
"He (Trump) couldn't care less about these other guys when it came down to it. He'd kill them all, leave them in blood on the street."
Simmons
"Why did he buy into the league...Trump with the USFL has always struck me as someone who couldn't get into the NFL, and he was so desperate for a football team that this was the next thing. It's like a guy who...all the Beamers that he wanted were sold out, so he goes to the Saab dealership...and then he complains about the Saab. He bought a Saab!"
Bill Simmons, sportswriter
"Donald was a marketing genius. But he would never take on John Bassett...He could control everyone else; he couldn't control Bassett."
Don Camera, USFL Marketing Director
"The last thing any of the networks need is more football in the fall."
Roone Arledge, ABC Sports Director
April 9, 1986
"The jury decided two things. One, we weren't playing when the lawsuit went on, we had stopped. But most importantly the expenditures that we had made...contributed to our own demise."
Jimmy Gould, GM, New Jersey Generals.
"We felt that there was not enough evidence to prove chicanery on the part of the NFL."
Margaret Lillienfield, juror in the USFL vs NFL case
"His dream was to be in the National Football League. And they didn't want him...His personal ambitions...sunk the league."
Burt Reynolds
And then on October 20, 2009, ESPN's (usually) excellent "30 for 30" premiered a new episode, this one about the USFL, called "Small Potatoes: Who Killed the USFL?" The title, in all honesty, gives away the bias inherent in the story, which was produced by Mike Tollin, whose company had the exclusive rights to film USFL games. Obviously this is a good source for such a documentary, but in all honesty, the documentary (even in 2009) seemed a very superficial way to tell the story even if one agrees (as I ultimately do) with the assessment.
Trump - in 2009 - was going on his 32nd year as a potential candidate for President of the United States, but the bloom was off the rose. Trump's name had first been mentioned as a possible candidate during the 1988 campaign - an election year that if Jon Mecham is to be believed in his 2015 biography of President George H.W. Bush, Trump notified Republican consultant Lee Atwater about his availability to be Bush's running mate, an offer that per Mecham was viewed by Bush as "strange and unbelievable." But starting in 1989, the Trump empire began to crack into pieces as his affair with Marla Maples (and subsequent divorce from Ivana) happened followed by his first business bankruptcy in 1990, a year that saw the June 12, 1990 edition of "The CBS Evening News With Dan Rather" pointing out that Trump's accountants had said that to bring his finances back into good standing, Trump would have to reduce his personal spending from $450,000 per day to "only" $350,000 per day (poor baby).
I only mention this because while I can be seriously skeptical of the timing of both Mecham's sudden announcement (Fall of 2015 as Trump is rising in the polls) or Pearlman's book (just after Trump takes office), the documentary regarding the USFL airs during a political "off off-year" and it's not as though Trump is even considered a serious potential candidate at that point in time. Again - none of these things are determinative on their own, but there is a long history of sudden disclosures when a person reaches for the Presidency, too.
In a documentary that runs 53 minutes of air time (and thus enabled ESPN to throw in an additional 37 minutes of commercials to mimic NBC's typical Summer Olympics coverage), Tollin takes us on a rapid-fire intro and overview of the brief history of the United States Football League. Many people - some famous, some soon to become famous - are quoted in the documentary. Donald Trump, meanwhile, is at his absolutely arrogant best (or worst if you will), so I will feature a number of his quotes in this post just to reaffirm what this thread has already established. I will also include a number of comments others made about Trump at the time.
The term "small potatoes" is actually uttered by Trump at the close of his interview with Tollin, who had the foresight and initiative to use it as the title of his documentary, deftly hanging the insult around Trump's neck.
TRUMP:
"We just signed the best free safety in the NFL, Gary Barbaro...."
(Again, I covered this. Barbaro wasn't even playing in the NFL at the time).
"To be honest with you, I don't think about the USFL...it was fun, we had a great lawsuit...."
"Charley Steiner was a nobody, he couldn't get a job...I'd love to take him on just like I take everybody else on."
(Actually, Steiner was the morning drive sportscaster for WOR Radio in New York at the time).
"...the spring was a wasteland. And I came into this league on the basis and predicated on the fact that I thought the league would move to the fall."
"I don't think it was too quick. We had owners that were dying (that's quite a low blow given Bassett's health). We had owners that couldn't pay their bills. And when you have that, you have to act a little bit quickly."
"I never liked spring football. Everything I do is sort of at the highest level."
"A Doug Flutie comes along every 10 years, 20 years."
"They know they're not gonna win this case, they know there's virtually no chance.."
Trump on the evening news on the first day of the trial
"I think, honestly, the NFL did a very good job in that they DID lose a big antitrust case. But they convinced everybody that Trump is very rich, he doesn't need the money. So the jury said, "We're gonna give the victory to Trump, but he doesn't need the money." And that was very smart of them."
"Frankly, I would have been better off if I went in and just bought an NFL team. It would have been a lot easier." (Yes - Donald Trump thinks persuading six jurors was harder than persuading 21 millionaires).
"People can try and blame Trump or whatever they want to do...that's the story of my life."
"I got the league to go as far as it went. I think that without me this league would have folded a lot sooner."
OTHERS:
"I hold onto my wallet when I shake his hand, but I like him."
Actor Burt Reynolds, who was a General Partner with the Tampa Bay Bandits
"He was a dynamic figure, but he was dynamic on behalf of Donald Trump's interests, not the whole league."
Legendary sportscaster Keith Jackson
"John (Bassett) was always logical because of his background...and Donald was illogical."
USFL Commissioner Chet Simmons
"You just can't all of a sudden say, 'We're gonna be on the same par as the NFL.' That was - to me - the silliest thing I'd ever heard."
Jackson
"To go head to head with them was insane."
Reynolds
"Greed and patience don't live together very well. Donald Trump was not happy being involved with what some people were still wont to call a second-level franchise...league...team, anything like that. And I think fundamentally the one word you could use to describe why the USFL went away would be 'greed.'"
Jackson
"He (Trump) couldn't care less about these other guys when it came down to it. He'd kill them all, leave them in blood on the street."
Simmons
"Why did he buy into the league...Trump with the USFL has always struck me as someone who couldn't get into the NFL, and he was so desperate for a football team that this was the next thing. It's like a guy who...all the Beamers that he wanted were sold out, so he goes to the Saab dealership...and then he complains about the Saab. He bought a Saab!"
Bill Simmons, sportswriter
"Donald was a marketing genius. But he would never take on John Bassett...He could control everyone else; he couldn't control Bassett."
Don Camera, USFL Marketing Director
"The last thing any of the networks need is more football in the fall."
Roone Arledge, ABC Sports Director
April 9, 1986
"The jury decided two things. One, we weren't playing when the lawsuit went on, we had stopped. But most importantly the expenditures that we had made...contributed to our own demise."
Jimmy Gould, GM, New Jersey Generals.
"We felt that there was not enough evidence to prove chicanery on the part of the NFL."
Margaret Lillienfield, juror in the USFL vs NFL case
"His dream was to be in the National Football League. And they didn't want him...His personal ambitions...sunk the league."
Burt Reynolds
Two more important historical points I probably need to edit into the posts above in the coming days regarding another sad instance in the case (sort of)
1986
June 23 - Roy Cohn, Trump's lawyer who introduced the USFL lawsuit in October 1984, is disbarred from practicing law after a nearly year-long investigation where a five-judge panel recommended his disbarment on four charges, all involving allegations of deceit, fraud, and misconduct. Cohn - rumored to be suffering from terminal liver cancer but in reality suffering from AIDS - called one of his legendary press conferences and ranted about how he didn't care and they were all just a bunch of politicians. He claimed, "The establishment hates my guts."
August 2 - just four days after the verdict in the "USFL vs NFL," a suit which he filed, Roy Cohn dies at the age of 59 in Bethesda, Maryland. Only after his death is it confirmed that he died of complications from AIDS.
1986
June 23 - Roy Cohn, Trump's lawyer who introduced the USFL lawsuit in October 1984, is disbarred from practicing law after a nearly year-long investigation where a five-judge panel recommended his disbarment on four charges, all involving allegations of deceit, fraud, and misconduct. Cohn - rumored to be suffering from terminal liver cancer but in reality suffering from AIDS - called one of his legendary press conferences and ranted about how he didn't care and they were all just a bunch of politicians. He claimed, "The establishment hates my guts."
August 2 - just four days after the verdict in the "USFL vs NFL," a suit which he filed, Roy Cohn dies at the age of 59 in Bethesda, Maryland. Only after his death is it confirmed that he died of complications from AIDS.
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