Perhaps it should come as no surprise that President-elect Donald Trump, sports fan,owner of 17 golf courses, and former owner of a USFL football team, is looking to the sports world for cabinet positions and ambassador appointees. From baseball manager Bobby Valentine to current NFL owner Woody Johnson, Trump appears to be plucking people from the sports world more than any president-elect before.
Many of the sports figures he has tapped, or is rumored to be considering, have never held political office. But that should probably come as no surprise, too, since Trump himself has never held political office.
And it isn’t just his cabinet appointments. Trump’s campaign repeatedly bumped up against pro sports (especially the NFL) in surprising ways, and since getting elected he has continued to use sports as a political vehicle. Last weekend, Trump attended the Army-Navy football game in Baltimore and stepped into the CBS broadcast booth, saying that he attended the game because “I just love the armed forces.”
What does all of this mean for sports in general, or for the sports leagues associated with the people he chooses? Perhaps nothing apart from another sign that Trump, a reality TV star, appreciates and rewards celebrity, and plans to run the country like a sports manager runs a team. But it’s worth highlighting as yet another example of how the Trump administration is already shaping up to be unlike any the country has ever seen.
Here’s a running list of the ways in which Trump appears to be planning a “sporty” presidency.
Trump has officially tapped Linda McMahon, a woman he originally knows through his connection to wrestling, as head of the Small Business Administration. Some critics have pointed out that WWE isn’t exactly an example of a small business, since it is the result of a number of tie-ups. McMahon cofounded Worldwide Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) with her husband Vince McMahon in 1979, originally as Titan Sports; Titan eventually merged with the WWF and Capitol Wrestling, which McMahon bought from his father in 1982. WWE went public on the NYSE in 1999, and its stock (WWE) is up 24% in the past year.
Linda McMahon left WWE in 2009 to run for senate in Connecticut, but lost; she again ran in 2012 and secured the Republican nomination, but again lost. Trump, meanwhile, has appeared at a number of WWE events, and has even gotten in the ring. As Rolling Stone wrote, “The road to the White House began at WrestleMania.”
Trump has officially named Todd Ricketts of the Chicago Cubs-owning Ricketts family, his deputy secretary of commerce. It appears a lot has changed since February, when Trump tweeted that the Ricketts family “have a lot to hide.” At that time, Tom Ricketts, Todd’s brother, told the media, “It’s a little surreal when Donald Trump threatens your mom.”
Todd Ricketts also helped create the #NeverTrump movement, before ultimately switching allegiances and helping his father, Joe Ricketts, create the pro-Trump super-PAC, Future 45. It’s unclear if Todd Ricketts will relinquish his involvement in the Cubs as part of his new position.
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