Stephen A. Smith revealed on Bill Maher’s podcast that Donald Trump decided to run for president partly as a response to the NFL blocking his attempt to buy the Buffalo Bills in 2014.
Trump told Smith that if NFL owners impeded his purchase, he would retaliate by running for president.
Although he did not acquire the Bills, Trump had previously owned the New Jersey Generals in the USFL and had made attempts to buy other NFL teams.
“He called me in 2014,” Smith told Maher. “This is a true story… He says, ‘Stephen A., I’m trying to buy the Buffalo Bills.’ Price tag was $1.4 billion. He had about $1.1 billion. I was being told he wasn’t gonna get the team.”
“He said, ‘Stephen A., if these m——— get in my way’ – talking about the NFL owners – ‘these m——— get in my way, I’m gonna get them all back. I’m gonna run for president.’ That’s what he said!”
“I don’t think it was a very serious run, but I gave them a guarantee of $1 billion, so that’s always serious, right?” Trump explained.
