Ex-USFL team owner Donald Trump once got HUMILIATED by the jury when he sued the NFL for $1,500,000,000, in turn, getting just ‘$1’ 37 years back

Before becoming the 45th President of the United States, Donald Trump dabbled in many businesses, including professional football. Trump, who once owned the New Jersey Generals in the United States Football League (USFL) tried to merge his relatively new league with the already-established National Football League (NFL) via a lawsuit but failed miserably.

Well, he technically won the lawsuit against the NFL but was humiliated by the jury. The USFL, which was once created as a compliment to the NFL and was only played during the spring season (leaving the fall to the NFL) saw some success in its first three years. But that success didn’t seem enough for Trump, who pushed hard for the league to be played in the fall along with the NFL.

The move crippled many of the USFL teams as they couldn’t compete with big-money NFL teams. As a result, Trump and the USFL filed a lawsuit against the NFL for establishing a monopoly concerning television broadcasting rights. The trial went on for 42 days and was one of the most anticipated trials in the history of sports.

During the trial, Donald Trump and then-NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle had different testimonies. Trump claimed that Rozelle told him that he should be in the NFL and if the USFL stayed in the spring and didn’t bring a lawsuit, Trump would have an NFL franchise in the future. But Rozell rejected that claim, saying Trump was the one with the idea of him owning an NFL franchise.

According to The Guardian, Rozell told Frank Rothman, the lead attorney of the NFL, that Trump said, “‘I want an NFL expansion team in New York.’ And he said, and I’m quoting him exactly, ‘I would get some stiff to buy the New York Generals, my team in the USFL.’”

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Donald Trump won the lawsuit but was humiliated in the process

After the 42-day trial, a verdict was reached on July 29, 1986, at around 3:55 p.m. According to reports, the jury members had intense arguments with “Yelling, barking and crying” over 5 days (a total of 31 hours) of deliberation.

In the end, the jury determined that the National Football League had violated antitrust law and monopolized the business of professional football. For a brief period, it felt like the USFL won and technically, they did.

But what followed was a horror story for USFL and Donald Trump. The USFL was awarded a symbolic $1 award since they thought most of the damages to the USFL were done by the league itself and they were responsible for their own financial woes.

The $1 award was trebled according to antitrust law, and the USFL won $3.76 in total (including interest) in the lawsuit. A massive blow for the USFL which folded soon despite getting around $6 million in court costs.

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