A college football team’s stay at a Trump property may bolster a lawsuit against the president.

Wisconsin put up about 250 during Orange Bowl trip

A weeklong stay by the University of Wisconsin football team at a Florida resort owned by President Donald Trump is providing new potential fodder for a lawsuit alleging that the president’s private business has put him in violation of the Constitution.

During a visit to Miami to play in last month’s Orange Bowl, the University of Wisconsin — a public university — put up about 250 players, athletic department staff, senior university officials and board members at the Trump National Doral golf resort.

The university’s stay may provide new ammunition to the state of Maryland and the District of Columbia, which sued Trump in June for allegedly violating anticorruption clauses in the Constitution by accepting millions in payments and benefits from foreign and state governments to his private company.

In an interview, Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh, a Democrat, said that the football team’s stay goes against the Constitution’s domestic emoluments clause, which prohibits the president from accepting benefits or financial rewards from state governments.

“Something like that is a problem, without question,” Frosh said. “It’s another example of how the potential for corruption is enormous.”

The Justice Department, which is representing Trump in the litigation, declined to comment on the case. The Trump Organization has referred questions about the case to the government.

The Doral resort was not selected by the school but by the Orange Bowl Committee, which organizes the game and signed a multiyear deal with Doral in 2014, before Trump ran for president.

University spokesman John Lucas said the final bill had not been tallied but would be paid by the school in February using revenue from bowl proceeds, ticket sales, concessions and other sources. Plaintiffs suing the president, including Frosh, argue such payments from state-controlled entities would be considered emoluments.

Although Trump resigned from his management position of his company when he entered the White House, he still benefits financially from his businesses, which include residential, office, hotel and golf properties in the United States, Europe and South America.