Stephen A. Smith says Donald Trump ran for President to take revenge on NFL after failed purchase of $4,200,000,000 worth Buffalo Bills

Stephen A. Smith has a theory as to why Donald Trump ran for President. The ESPN analyst and host of “First Take” alleged that the decision to run for President actually stems from a failed bid to buy the Buffalo Bills. Smith shared the details from a conversation he had with Trump in 2014 with CNN’s Jake Tapper:

“In 2014, Donald Trump wanted to purchase the Buffalo Bills. The price tag was about $1.4 billion. According to my sources, he had about $1.1 billion, and he called me to talk to me about his desire to own the Buffalo Bills.

“It's the last time we ever spoke. And he said to me, “If them MFs get in my way, I'm going to get them all back. I'm going to run for president.” And sure enough, that's what happened.”

“He didn't get the team. And because he didn't get the team, he turned around and ran for president, and he won. So, the NFL jokes with me all the time, ‘So it's our fault, It's our fault that he's the president.’ Like, yeah, maybe.”

The Buffalo Bills were for sale in 2014 when longtime owner Ralph Wilson passed away. Wilson was a pioneer and founding member of the American Football League, a league that would eventually merge with the NFL to create what it is today. He had previously made it clear he had no intention of passing the organization down to a family member.

Trump ultimately lost out to current Bills owner Terry Pegula. Pegula was the Buffalo Sabres owner at the time and committed to keep the team in Buffalo. He also allegedly made an offer to pay the $1.4 billion asking price entirely in cash, and that might have been the difference between him and Trump.

In 2024, the Bills were valued by Forbes at $4.2 billion, highlighting the increasing prices of sports franchises. Trump eventually announced he would run for president in June 2015, winning the 2016 election and taking office on January 20, 2017.

Donald Trump’s relationship with football dates back forty years

Donald Trump has tried on multiple occasions to be involved with the NFL as an owner. He became the team owner of the New Jersey Generals in the United States Football League (USFL) in 1983. Trump leveraged that into a lawsuit against the NFL in an attempt to force a merger. He won the lawsuit but failed to force the merger, and the USFL closed several seasons later.