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Ray Didinger: Donald Trump Destroyed A Football League

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - NFL analyst Ray Didinger responded to Donald Trump's criticism of NFL officiating by pointing out Trump played a key role in the demise of an entire football league. At a campaign rally in Reno, Nevada, Donald Trump stated the NFL is going 'soft,' for penalizing late hits and helmet to helmet contact.

Didinger, speaking with Chris Stigall on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT, said Trump is responsible for destroying the USFL.

"I covered Donald Trump in football, okay? I've been down that road. I covered the USFL when he was the owner of the New Jersey Generals. Donald Trump, basically, put the USFL out of business. If I were him, he's got a lot of stuff he could talk about, and a lot stuff where he could rally the public, but his football chops are probably not something that he should talk about very much."

Didinger explained that Trump demanded the league's entire business model be scrapped and, in doing so, entered into a battle they could not win.

"It was created to be a league that was going to operate in the Spring, on a lesser budget, and on a more modest scale. The Donald, when he took over the New Jersey Generals, that didn't suit him at all, that he was going to be an owner in a, basically, what was going to be a second tier league. His feeling was, if I'm going to get in on this, we should go for the whole thing. So, he's the one that, basically, decided let's go head to head with the NFL in the Fall. Well, that was a good idea. Yeah, they were certainly equipped to do that. And, of course, that was the end of them. That was suicide. They just drove the car off the mountain top, and that was his doing."

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