Happier Times
This is one more photo of Fred and Donald Trump. Taken in July 1982, they were accompanied by Mayor Ed Koch here. They might look happy in this photo, but Trump would be suffering losses from his casino expansion in New Jersey a couple of years later. The properties in Atlantic City were doing poorly, so Trump had no other choice but to put Trump Shuttle, his airline, on the market. On top of that, he had to sell his yacht Trump Princess and restructure his debt. He was able to consolidate his casinos under Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts. It had to undergo bankruptcy restructuring in 2004 and 2009, however.
Happier Times
Football Fan
It was not only his Atlantic City casino properties that proved to be a bad business decision in New Jersey. Aside from that, he also hired Walt Michaels to serve as the Head Coach of the New Jersey Generals, the team in the United States Football League that he bought in 1983. His plan was to make the league a real contender of the more popular National Football League. However, things did not turn out as planned because he made a mistake. Many teams were already losing money, so it did not help that he wanted to change the schedule to fall/winter from spring/summer. This decision was made so that it would compete directly with the NFL. Even though the USFL won its antitrust suit against the NFL, it was awarded only $1. This was a “victory in name only,” so the teams were still unable to make enough money to run the organizations. In the end, the league simply disbanded.
Football Fan