Jaguars owner doesn’t hold back on Trump
Shad Khan thinks he knows the real reason Donald Trump is so obsessed with how the NFL does business.
“This is a very personal issue with him,” the Jacksonville Jaguars owner told USA TODAY Sports on Wednesday as NFL owners wrapped up two days of meetings in Lower Manhattan.
Trump, whose bid to buy the Buffalo Bills in 2014 failed, slammed one of his favorite punching bags again Wednesday, tweeting that the NFL is demonstrating “total disrespect” for the nation because it is not forcing players to stand for the national anthem.
The league and its owners generally have had little public response to Trump, though New York Giants co-owner John Mara said, facetiously, “I’m shocked,” when asked for a response to the president’s tweet. But Khan didn’t hold back.
“He’s been elected president, where maybe a great goal he had in life to own an NFL team is not very likely,” said Khan, who bought the Jags in 2011 for $760 million. “So to make it tougher, or to hurt the league, it’s very calculated.”
He reiterated a description he’s used before in characterizing Trump, calling him “a divider, not a uniter.”
Asked if he were aware of Trump insulting the widow of a Green Beret, LaDavid Johnson, during a phone call Tuesday when, according to Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Fla., he told her, “He knew what he was signing up for,” Khan shook his head.
“It’s so bad,” said Khan, who had seen the news reports. “It’s below the lowest of the lowest expectations. It doesn’t sound rational. It’s bizarre.”
Khan sees the irony that Trump has blasted the NFL over the anthem protests as an affront to the American flag and the military yet is now linked to another controversy that portrays great disrespect to the family of a soldier who made the ultimate sacrifice.
“I would say, ‘Let’s get real,’ ” Khan said. “The attacks on Muslims, the attacks on minorities, the attacks on Jews. I think the NFL doesn’t even come close to that, on the level of being offensive. Here, it’s about money, or messing with, trying to soil a league or a brand that he’s jealous of.”
Khan, a self-made billionaire who immigrated to the U.S. from Pakistan, contends that Trump’s flap with the NFL pales when compared to social issues, notably including the proposed travel bans that Trump has pushed that target people from Muslim-majority nations.
“That’s one aspect that you can imagine, someone is getting a visa that will change their life, is from a Muslim-majority country and now, boom, that dream to change lives, they get locked out,” Khan said. “That’s a hell of a lot more significant than fighting some sponsors or people who want their money back because they’ve been riled up.”
Interestingly, while Khan sharply criticizes Trump, he was one of seven NFL owners who donated significantly to Trump’s campaign and/or inauguration fund. He donated $1 million to the inauguration fund. Others: Jerry Jones, Robert Kraft, Stan Kroenke, Robert McNair, Dan Snyder and Woody Johnson. Regret that now? “I have no regrets in life,” said Khan, who founded Flex-N-Gate, a leading manufacturer of auto parts.
Khan said he donated because Trump’s economic policies — including promises to improve on the national health care plan, tax reform and renegotiating NAFTA — were appealing to him.
Yet economics only go so far in considering Trump’s package, Khan recognizes now.
“This ugly, toxic side sours the whole experience,” Khan said.
Social activist Rashad Robinson sees irony in how Trump has fired away at the NFL, despite the support of so many owners.
“There seems to be some trouble in paradise between Trump and NFL owners,” Rashad Robinson, executive director of Color of Change, told USA TODAY Sports. “What’s clear is that these owners are reaping what they have sown.”
It’s too bad that every NFL owner is as revealing as Khan. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell undoubtedly expressed the sentiment of many as he contended while addressing the impact of the protests that the league wants to “stay out of politics.”
Unfortunately, Trump, who called protesting players “sons of bitches” during a rally last month and has urged NFL teams to fire or suspend them, keeps the political link in play.
Still, several NFL owners have deeper ties to Trump than Khan, raising questions about their apparent willingness to overlook his approach to social issues, including some that can be directly linked to reasons why NFL players are protesting.
Kraft, the New England Patriots owner, declined to comment on Trump when approached by USA TODAY Sports on Wednesday, contending it wasn’t the proper setting. That’s strange, considering that Kraft presented Trump with a Super Bowl LI championship ring this year.
Last week, Trump declared during a rally in Pennsylvania that Kraft urged him to gear tax cuts for the middle class rather than wealthy Americans.
Kraft — who dined with Trump a week after the Super Bowl and has previously said their bond strengthened as Trump lent support following the passing of his wife, Myra, in 2011 — hasn’t publicly shared his positions on how Trump has handled relief for Puerto Rico or, say, white supremacist rallies.
So the optics could be left to interpretation.
Jones, meanwhile, told USA TODAY Sports he recently talked to Trump, who has praised the Cowboys owner for his controversial declaration that he won’t play any player who doesn’t stand for the anthem. Jones considers himself a Trump friend but declined to provide details.
Still, with Jones pushing the Trump doctrine on protesting players — rejected, by the way, by other NFL owners — it’s a bad look.
Sure, taking on Trump publicly has its political risks.
But at least there’s one owner Khan, willing to address any misperceptions.
“He’s been elected president, where maybe a great goal he had in life to own an NFL team is not very likely.” Jaguars owner Shad Khan