Jacksonville Jaguars owner thinks Trump is 'jealous' of the NFL

Shad Khan.
(Image credit: Logan Bowles/Getty Images)

The owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars, Shad Khan, is pretty sure he's figured out why President Trump can't stop talking about the NFL, and it has to do with a deal he wasn't able to close.

Khan argues that Trump, who on Wednesday said the NFL shows "total disrespect" for the country by not forcing players to stand during the national anthem, hasn't gotten over the fact that he tried and failed to buy the Buffalo Bills in 2014. "This is a very personal issue with him," Khan told USA Today on Wednesday. "He's been elected president, where maybe a great goal he had in life to own an NFL team is not very likely. So to make it tougher, or to hurt the league, it's very calculated." Khan, who purchased the Jaguars in 2011 for $760 million, said Trump's vitriol is "about money or messing with — trying to soil a league or a brand that he's jealous of."

Trump has been very vocal about players kneeling during the anthem as a peaceful way to protest police brutality, claiming it disrespects veterans and the military, while at the same time being accused of inadvertently insulting the family of Army Sgt. La David T. Johnson, who died in Niger earlier this month. "It's so bad," Khan said of Trump's alleged words. "It's below the lowest of the lowest expectations. It doesn't sound rational. It's bizarre." Khan, who has made his fortune manufacturing auto parts, donated $1 million to Trump's inauguration fund, and he told USA Today he was interested in Trump's proposed economic policies. He said he doesn't regret giving him the money, but "this ugly, toxic side sours the whole experience." Catherine Garcia

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Editor's note: An earlier version of this story mischaracterized Sgt. La David T. Johnson's Army role. It has since been corrected. We regret the error.

To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.