By Nathan Sanchez
Staff Writer
Ralph Wilson, owner of the Buffalo Bills, died in March, and the ownership status of the team is up in the air. Polarizing public figure and America’s millionaire Donald Trump wants to buy the team. This is a bad thing.
Professional football is allergic to Donald Trump. Nevertheless, he insists on continually injecting doses of his poisonous essence into it, like a mad scientist refusing to give up on a theory he thinks will work despite all the data showing otherwise.
If you don’t believe me, just look at the United States Football League.
Oh that’s right, you can’t. Because it no longer exists. Mr. Trump made sure of that. Instead of giving the American sports fans the blessing of football in the spring, he (then the owner of the New Jersey Generals) persuaded the other 11 of the USFL’s 14 owners to take the heavily-favored NFL head-on in the fall for its second season.
That second year would be its last. By 1985, the USFL was $160 million in debt. The USFL sued the NFL for $1 billion and after a 1990 victory in the US Supreme Court, were awarded three dollars, with 76 cents added for interest. That check has yet to be cashed.
Trump is a shrewd and disgustingly successful businessman. He’s also a child. A rich, spoiled child who has his eye on a shiny new toy. He had it once in the ‘80s, and he broke it and ruined it for everyone. Now he’s back and wants another one.
The negatives of Trump’s ownership of the Bills would far outweigh the positives. Let’s take a look at the positives first.
The team stays in Buffalo. Nothing destroys the spirits of a fanbase quite like its favorite team packing up and leaving town. Americans treasure their football traditions. They’re well-loved heirlooms passed down from generation to generation. Teams leaving their longtime homes are tough on fans. As a matter of fact, there are still fans in Baltimore, now home to the Ravens, that remain faithful to their once-close Colts. Citizens of Seattle maintain their allegiance to the Supersonics, now the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Trump has indicated that should he purchase the Bills, he would keep them in Buffalo, because the New York area is the epicenter of Trump-dom. He does most of his business in New York City and moving it would be a hassle and an unnecessary chore.
The Bills have a lot going on as far as the team is concerned, and Trump would most likely exacerbate the mess. Two big negatives stick out in my mind.
Ralph Wilson was well-loved among Bills fans. Donald Trump is easily one of the most disliked men in America, especially in pop culture. Imagine Rex Ryan, the NFL’s loud-mouthed drama queen, equipped with a net worth of $2.7 billion and the notion that he can be the president of the United States. That’s what a Trump regime would be like for Bills fans. One Rex Ryan is too many in the NFL, they don’t need a bigger one in a front office.
Trump would also walk into a hotly-disputed lawsuit by the Buffalo Jills, the Bills’ cheerleading squad over unfair hours and wages. Trump’s skills with ladies are nonexistent. As a matter of fact, they’re beyond that. They’re volatile.
He got himself in trouble in May of 2013 with a tweet blaming sexual assault in the military on the fact that that’s just what you get when you put men and women together.
Here’s the tweet:
“26,000 unreported sexual assaults in the military-only 238 convictions. What did these geniuses expect when they put men and women together?”
If you’ve ever seen The Apprentice, Trump’s hour-long ego trip in which he dangles the prospect of a job like bait in front of a group of work-starved professionals, you’d be subjected to his blatant sexism and innuendo. During one episode in 2013, he once told a female contestant, “You on your knees? I bet that looks good.”
I’m sure the Jills would love to work for Trump.
While there aren’t any competing football leagues for Trump to drive into the ground, I’d be really disappointed to see him behind the wheel of an NFL franchise.