Trump and the USFL won the case and that final battle. And they got a ton of publicity. But they lost the war.
What happened? The jury concluded the NFL inappropriately used its power to prevent the USFL from competing with it. But they only awarded the USFL $1.00 in damages. Here’s what happened in the six-person jury room, according to juror interviews:
– Two jurors felt the NFL had harmed the USFL and deserved hundreds of millions of dollars;
– Two jurors felt the USFL’s lawsuit was just a desperate effort to stay alive; and
– Two jurors initially were undecided, one of whom was Patricia Sibilia—who felt that the NFL acted like a monopoly and engaged in predatory action but that the USFL had overspent and was partially responsible for its own demise, violating their TV contract by moving to the fall season.
Regarding Trump, Sibilia, who brokered the ultimate compromise, “decided she didn’t like Trump, whom she’d barely heard of before the trial. ‘He was extremely arrogant and I thought that he was obviously playing the game,’ Sibilia recalled. ‘He wanted an NFL franchise….The USFL was a cheap way in.’” 55
The U.S. Second Court of Appeals upheld this verdict, noting “what the USFL seeks is essentially a judicial restructuring of major league professional football to allow it to” merge with the NFL. The decision stated, in a passage relevant to the win–lose litigation strategy pursued by Trump and the USFL:
The jury in the present case obviously found that patient development of a loyal following among fans and an adherence to an original plan that offered long-run gains were lacking…. The jury found that the failure of the USFL was not the result of the NFL’s television contracts but of its own decision to seek entry into the NFL on the cheap.56
Donald Trump described his USFL experience this way,
I bought a losing team in a losing league on a long shot. It almost worked, through our antitrust lawsuit, but when it didn’t, I had no fallback. The point is that you can’t be too greedy. If you go for a home run on every pitch, you’re also going to strike out a lot…. If there was a single key miscalculation I made with the USFL, it was evaluating the strength of my fellow owners. In any partnership, you’re only as strong as your weakest link.57
Another win–lose mindset hallmark: If you win, take credit; if you lose, blame your partners.
Two final notes on Trump’s win–lose mindset. One, George Ross, his long-time lawyer, would disagree with the conclusions here. Ross notes that “the recurring theme in Trump-style negotiation is looking for ways to satisfy both sides, to structure a deal so that everyone feels that he or she comes out a winner.”58
In fact, Ross concludes his book by stating: “Just remember this most important element of Trump-style negotiation: You can only achieve mutual satisfaction and complete the biggest and best deals when you build a relationship of trust and rapport with those with whom you become involved.”59
Ross’ statement regarding mutual satisfaction is true. Does Trump believe this? Not according to the evidence. Does Ross himself really believe Trump brings a win–win mindset to negotiations? The example he cites in his book after this statement does not even involve Trump.
Plus, the USFL negotiation and Trump’s many negotiations detailed later illustrate his dominant negotiation mindset: win–lose.
It’s also important to examine what constitutes a “win” here in Trump’s eyes. If Trump measures wins financially, he admittedly lost $22 million here.60
A better financial deal would have been the Cowboys. He could have bought the NFL Cowboys in 1984 for $85 million. (It sold then for $85 million.) Its owners then turned around and sold it to its current owner in 1989 for $170 million. Forbes in 2017 declared the Cowboys the most valuable sports franchise in the world at $4.8 billion.61
But Trump didn’t think in purely financial terms. He said in January 1984, shortly after buying the Generals, “I feel sorry for the poor guy who is going to buy the Dallas Cowboys. It’s a no-win situation for him, because if he wins, well, so what, they’ve won through the years, and if he loses…he’ll be known to the world as a loser.” 62
Trump became “known to the world” and gained his first national exposure for his name and brand during this time. He also gained a reputation as the wealthy New York developer who took on the uber-powerful NFL. That’s a win for him.
On the other hand, he didn’t end up owning an NFL team.
Bottom line—Trump views negotiations and life with a win–lose, zero-sum mindset.
As John “Jack” O’Donnell, President of the Trump Plaza Hotel & Casino in the late 1980s recalled after working closely with Trump in Atlantic City, “Trump had a simple mindset, winners versus losers, and…his chief motivation was winning, even when he didn’t need the money.” 63
And Trump himself stated: “Man is the most vicious of all animals, and life is a series of battles ending in victory or defeat. You can’t let people make a sucker out of you.” 64
LESSONS LEARNED
| Trump’s Strategies and Tactics | Gut-level decisions drove Trump’s negotiations, not strategic planning. |
| A strictly win–lose mindset impacted all Trump’s negotiations. | |
| Lessons Learned | Strategic preparation based on the experts’ proven research—not guts and instincts—should drive our negotiations. |
| Detailed preparation and homework behind-the-table should involve two to nine times more time than at-the-table negotiating. | |
| Preparation on the process of negotiation—not just learning the facts—is critical to success. |
SETTING THE BAR HIGH: SUPER AGGRESSIVE EXPECTATIONS
When asked about his goals in a television interview, Trump once said “‘Goals?’ he repeated. ‘You keep winning and you win and you win, and you win.’” 65
He also said, “to get momentum, you must first focus on a specific goal” and “remember, there’s no such thing as an unrealistic goal—just unrealistic time frames.” 66
What has Trump actually done regarding goal-setting? He reaches for the sky. And he doesn’t let naysayers weigh in. He goes for it, often against conventional wisdom and so-called experts.
And he should set aggressive goals. To start, though, some strategic context. Setting goals lives within my First Golden Rule: Information Is Power—So Get It! The first Golden Rule is essential to success in any negotiation and is well-supported by the research.
RESEARCH: It’s critical to ask questions and get as much relevant information as you can throughout the negotiation process. You need sufficient information to set aggressive, realistic goals and to evaluate the other side’s goals.67
This was essential to Trump’s success, especially early on. His father, Fred, built a highly successful residential real-estate company with thousands of apartments and projects in several states. But he shied away from Manhattan.
Based in Queens, Fred Trump made millions building standard housing for middle-class families. And when he