Even former President Donald Trump had a brief stint with professional football — although not with the NFL.
In 1983, the then-business tycoon bought the United States Football League's (USFL) New Jersey Generals. He purchased the team for around $20 million, in today's dollars.
Trump's running back for the Generals was none-other than Herschel Walker. However, Trump was widely cited for the failure of the USFL because he cared too much about merging with the NFL than he did about the team he owned.
"I think it was a big mistake," Dr. Ted Diethrich, one of the league's original owners, told USA Today at the time. "When that decision was made, the course for this was charted, and it was going to be a wreck."
In 2014, Trump re-entered the football realm when he faced off with Jon Bon Jovi and the Pegula family to purchase the Buffalo Bills. But Trump underbid, and the Pegula family ultimately purchased the team.
Less than a year later, Trump announced a bid for the presidency, ultimately winning the Republican Party nomination and defeating Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in one of the biggest political upsets in modern American history.
Trump served as president from 2017 to 2021. He lost his bid for a second presidential term to current President Joe Biden. He has refused to accept the results of the 2020 election, claiming it was riddled with fraud. And in November, Trump officially announced he will run for president in 2024.
Trump, who himself played football at the New York Military Academy as a youth, has long been in what Insider dubs "The Pigskin War" over players, team ownership, coaches, social injustice, Deflategate, and safety issues with the NFL.