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President Donald J. Trump at an NFL game in 2010.
- President Donald Trump is still going after the NFL over anthem protests.
- Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shahid Khan said Trump is "jealous" of NFL and his attacks are "personal."
- Adam Shefter said other NFL owners feel Trump's attacks are a personal vendetta.
President Donald Trump went after the NFL again on Wednesday tweeting, "The NFL has decided that it will not force players to stand for the playing of our National Anthem. Total disrespect for our great country!"
This was after a recent meeting between the NFL and its players in which the anthem protests were discussed, but no change was made to force the players to stand.
Now comes multiple reports that NFL owners believe Trump is just waging a personal vendetta over not being allowed into the NFL fraternity.
In an interview with Jarrett Bell of USA Today, Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shahid Khan, described Trump's attacks on the NFL as a "personal issue."
"This is a very personal issue with him," Khan told USA Today. "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."
Trump famously went to war with the NFL in the 1980s as an owner in the now-defunct USFL. More recently however, Trump was one of three bidders for the Buffalo Bills when they were for sale in 2014. He was always considered a longshot and eventually lost out to Terry Pegula, who also owns the NHL's Buffalo Sabres.
According to ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter, Khan is not the only owner who feels that way about Trump.
"Shad Khan is not the only owner who feels that way," Shefter said on ESPN Radio. "I have had other owners say the exact same thing to me."
Schefter said he made calls to "people in Washington" who said they did not believe it to be true. However, the owners do believe that Trump is angry at the NFL, in general, and Commissioner Roger Goodell, specifically.
"I can tell you that there are other owners who believe that part of the reason that Trump is gone after the NFL as aggressively as he has is because he believes Roger Goodell had a hand in preventing him from buying the Buffalo Bills back when they were for sale," Schefter said. "And because he has not been included in that ownership fraternity, he is now waging his own little vendetta against the NFL."
Khan went even further, telling USA Today that Trump is "jealous" of the NFL.
"Let's get real. 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."