On the eve of Election Day, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is spending time complaining about the NFL to Bill Belichick and Jim Gray.
Nearly four years after refusing the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Trump in the wake of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, Belichick interviewed the former president ahead of Election Day on SiriusXM’s Let’s Go. And during the interview that mostly stuck to sports issues, Trump was eventually asked about his expectations for Election Day.
“It’s sort of like the Super Bowl times a thousand,” Trump told Belichick and Gray. “I was sort of just alluding when I was asked by the NFL if I could help them with Canada, dealing with Canada, because they had that dispute for years and years…having to do with the Super Bowl and rights to the Super Bowl and Canada was treating them very badly. They were giving them nothing. And this went on for many years, many lawyers, everything else and I said, ‘I’ll look into it.’
“When I did the USMCA, that’s Mexico and Canada, I said to [Justin] Trudeau, I said, ‘Listen, do me a favor, I represent for the good of the country, American companies. And this is a great American company, the NFL. I would appreciate if you do a settlement and the settlement that’s on the table. I’d appreciate it.’ They would never have done it. ‘I’d appreciate if you do it.’ And he said, ‘Done.’
“It took me about 42 seconds, and I got it done. And the NFL was thrilled. There’s only one problem, they never said thank you. Coach, you wouldn’t know about that, they treated you much better than they treated me. But I never got even a thank you. And you’re talking about hundreds of millions of dollars. I never got a thank you and all I want is a thank you. So, they don’t treat people good and they don’t treat their fans good.”
For context, Trump was referring to Canada allowing Canadian ads to be shown during the Super Bowl. Previously, Super Bowl broadcasts in Canada required American ads to be shown, resulting in less ads being sold and less revenue potential for the NFL. But that changed in 2018, when a new trade deal allowed Canadian broadcasters to sell their own ads.
Six years later, Trump is still waiting for a thank you. The problem, however, is that Trump previously boasted about receiving a thank you from the NFL and commissioner Roger Goodell. And per a 2018 article from the Washington Post, Goodell said, “We greatly appreciate President Trump’s leadership and determination in bringing about a resolution to our intellectual property issue in Canada.”
It’s not the most egregious false claim Trump has made during his third presidential campaign. But Trump appears to be waiting for a thank you he already received. Maybe the NFL treats Trump better than he realizes, especially for someone who once led an antitrust lawsuit against them.
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