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MONDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2016 ANALYSIS

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Focus Illusion built on aid heralds hope, hunger

By Ed Stoddard and Mabvuto Banda

s she walks along a dirt road in central Malawi, Louise Abale carries her precious maize wrapped in a brightly Acolored cloth and balanced on her head. Because of drought in Malawi and across southern Africa the grain has doubled in price in the space of a year, and now costs around 200 kwacha ($0.28) a kilo. Like many, Abale is struggling to pay for maize, a staple of the diet, and says her own - stunted - crop will not be ready for harvest for two months. “It’s too expensive, I have almost no money,” she said. In all 2.8 million people in Malawi, or 17 percent of the population, now face hunger, according to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). Drought and floods have hit the maize crop, exposing the fragility of gains which How took on the NFL had seen Malawi’s rates of malnutrition slashed in the past two decades. That progress was partly rooted in a fertilizer grant for small-scale farmers. But now the government, By Jeff Horwitz under way. Hiring away the NFL’s top coach was never subject of heated debate decades later. An eventual from the Seahawks during the team’s 1983 playoffs, starved of donor funds following a graft scandal over two a serious possibility, those involved at the time said. study by consulting firm McKinsey and a poll of the guaranteeing that the raid would be the talk of NFL years ago, can ill afford such payments and says it must scale onald Trump was known in New York by 1984 But Trump stoked talk of a deal for weeks, “not think- league’s fans both suggested that the USFL should pregame shows. down the program. as a flashy newcomer to Manhattan real estate. ing Shula would ever accept it,” said Gary Croke, the stay in the spring. Had the league kept its head down When the New York Giants got into a public con- Ironically, policies aimed at ensuring basic food security DBut football, not business, was what drew 60 Generals’ assistant head of public relations. and built up its spring operations, “it would’ve have tract dispute with star , Trump wired are partly to blame for a cycle of rural poverty and aid young women to the in early January of Such sports-page dramas were good for the had staying power,” Croke said. $1 million into the linebacker’s bank account and dependency in this land-locked African nation, leaving the that year. The women had come to audition for the team’s ticket sales, which surged after Trump bought Former owners such as Tatham and Steve Ehrhart, signed Taylor to play with the Generals in 1988 - five population vulnerable to climate shocks, economists say. Brig-A-Dears, the cheerleading squad of the New the team. But many in the Generals’ front office who was also the USFL’s general counsel, disagreed, years off. The Giants had to pay Trump to nullify that “There is no doubt that the fertilizer subsidy was only feasible Jersey Generals, part of the upstart became convinced that Trump’s interest in publicity citing the collapse of teams in major markets such as contract just weeks later. “They gave me a million dol- due to donor support,” said Ed Hobey, an analyst at Africa Risk Football League. Trump had recently bought the did not always align with the team’s interest. Around and Chicago. “We couldn’t make it work lars and hated me ever after,” Trump recalls gleefully. Consulting. “At best, it was unsustainable without continued team. Judged by a panel that included Andy Warhol, the time of the Shula play, Trump began talking up financially or break through the power of the NFL and “The Giants went nuts when I signed him - it was donor support, at worst, it was an illusion built on aid.” gossip columnist Cindy Adams and other celebrities, moving the team to Manhattan - anathema to the baseball,” Ehrhart said. Trump came to the league huge publicity.” Launched in 2005, the Farm Input Subsidy Programme the event was a splashy media affair. But organizer New Jersey residents who were the team’s fan base. “I already convinced of that conclusion. While one con- (FISP) provides qualifying farmers - those with limited income Emily Magrish grew worried when some women who called him and said, ‘What are you doing? People are tingent of the owners had deep enough pockets to The Art of the Insult but a plot of productive land - with two coupons which can had been cut from consideration in earlier rounds trying to sell tickets here,’” said Kathy Fernandes, exec- weather several more money-losing seasons, another With much of the league exhausted and in debt, be redeemed for two 50-kg bags of fertilizer. The recipients showed up to picket outside. utive assistant to the team’s president. “He said, ‘I just group of owners was nearly bust. At one away game, Trump’s advocacy for a frontal assault on the NFL paid make a modest contribution, with the government footing “I was convinced Trump was going to fire me on off. Following the 1984 spring season, the owners most of the bill. Because the government is subsidizing the the spot,” Magrish said of the protest. “Instead, I got a voted to move the USFL to the fall in 1986, filing an production of maize - the main source of calories for many bonus. He thought I’d done it on purpose.” The October federal antitrust lawsuit against the NFL in poor households - it also bans the export of the grain. Generals have been largely forgotten, but Trump’s New York. The lawyer handling the case for the USFL, The program is credited by the government and some ownership of the USFL team was formative in his evo- combative showman Harvey Myerson, was Trump’s aid agencies with lifting maize production and cutting lution as a public figure and peerless self-publicist. pick. Moving to the fall cost the USFL its spring televi- hunger. The data appear to back that up. The United Nations With money and swagger, he led a shaky spring foot- sion contract, leaving the league without vital sup- Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) says the percent- ball league into an all-or-nothing showdown with the port. After a lame-duck spring season in 1985, the age of Malawi’s malnourished population fell to 21.8 percent NFL, building an outsized reputation in the process. USFL pinned its future on its case against the NFL. in 2012-14 from 45 percent two decades earlier. But FISP’s Now a leading Republican presidential candidate, One welcome outcome for the USFL would have role here is difficult to untangle as most of those gains were Trump has shown the same combativeness and show- been a legal settlement that brought a handful of made before 2005. Still, there is evidence of benefits, includ- manship in the campaign - and proved yet again that new teams into the NFL. If any team were to make ing indirect ones. Stunting among Malawi children - a key he will not hesitate to confront an established order. that cut, it was likely to be Trump’s, based on Generals nutrition measure - fell to 42.4 percent in 2014 from 49 per- But 30 years after the USFL’s demise, whether Trump attendance and its strong roster of players. “He had cent in 2002. killed the league or nearly saved it remains contested New York, he had the leverage,” Tatham said. But among those involved. One point of agreement: Trump himself - and his delight at getting under the Unintended Consequences “Donald was the big, crazy-spending owner, and the NFL’s skin - may have foiled prospects for a deal. Years But the program has also had unintended consequences. NFL guys were scared to death of him,” said Bill Tatham after the USFL’s failure, Croke said he asked Ralph The focus on food security, including the ban on maize Jr., who owned the USFL’s along with Wilson, then owner of the , whether the exports, has discouraged investment in more productive his father and came to admire Trump’s tactics. “But he NFL had considered a merger. “He said, ‘We actually commercial farming methods. “Our concern with the export wasn’t the half-cocked guy his enemies try to portray thought about that, and your team was one that ban is that it limits the scope to expand production among him as.” In this March 8, 1984 file photo, Donald Trump shakes hands with Herschel interested us. But Trump pissed us off so much that more medium and large-scale farms if they are unable to Another similarity that USFL observers see to Walker in New York after agreement on a 4-year contract with the New we didn’t want him in the league,’” Croke recalled. market the surplus,” said Richard Record, World Bank Senior today: Trump set himself up to come out on top Jersey Generals USFL football team. —AP photos Trump says he’s convinced that a merger would Country Economist, World Bank in Malawi. regardless of whether his presidential campaign suc- have ultimately happened if the USFL owners had In the long run such a ban stunts food production, espe- ceeds. Before the USFL, “I was well known, but not enough money to bargain from a position of power. cially in an age of increasingly high-tech farming, economists really well known,” Trump told AP. “After taxes, I would But with some USFL owners nearly broke, the NFL say. FISP also diverted state funds from other areas. In all, FISP say I lost $3 million. And I got a billion dollars of free saw no need to bargain. The case went to a jury - has accounted for as much as 9 percent of government publicity.” where the NFL painted Trump as the villain. Jurors expenditure and over half the agricultural budget, leaving unanimously upheld the USFL’s contention that the scant funds to invest in rural transport links and other projects A Roaring Start NFL was a monopoly. But with the USFL asking for that would benefit the countryside. “The FISP was not The USFL was founded with an explicit goal: avoid $1.3 billion in damages, the jurors split. They awarded matched by increased investment in rural infrastructure espe- fights with the NFL. Games would be played in the the USFL one dollar. “What the NFL did was smart,” cially roads and irrigation,” said Hobey of Africa Risk spring. Each team could pick up a few stars. Rigorous Trump says now. “They purely said this is a Donald Consulting. salary caps would rule out an inter-league bidding Trump thing, and he doesn’t need the money.” This retards development of other sectors in the farm val- war. Though the new league sought to stay out of a While the USFL appealed the judgment, Tatham ue chain, such as canning, which can kick-start industrializa- duel, it was in a good position to capitalize on some of worked to put together a coalition of owners willing tion, economists and analysts say. Initially FISP met its objec- the NFL’s weaknesses. A 1982 players strike cut the to keep their teams playing in the meantime, but tive: providing calories to the rural poor. Between 2007 and NFL’s season from 16 games to nine, owners were Trump wouldn’t bite. “It was a very calm discussion, he 2014 Malawi produced bumper maize crops, with surpluses feuding over franchise locations and antiquated rules was a very calm thinker,” Tatham said. “If Donald was recorded since 2007 - until last year. A study in the “The discouraged obvious crowd-pleasers such as post- this emotional, crazy guy, we’d have played. But he American Journal of Agricultural Economics” found a 15 per- touchdown celebrations. really isn’t.” In 1988, the appellate court refused to alter cent boost in maize production under FISP coincided with a Thanks to novelty and a few marquee players - the jury’s original $1 verdict. The league voted to dis- 15 percent decrease in the amount of land devoted to the most notably the Generals’ Hershel Walker, a Heisman band. Trump says he has no regrets. “I’m not a minor grain. This suggests small-scale farmers diversified to cash Trophy winner - the league got off to a promising league kind of person,” Trump said. “I came in on the crops such as tobacco and cotton. start. But by the end of the inaugural season, the initial basis that I wanted to challenge the NFL, and maybe enthusiasm had ebbed and some cornerstone fran- In this Aug 2, 1985, file photo, Donald Trump (right), New York real estate there’d be a merger, maybe there wouldn’t be.” Donor Drought Drains FISP Coffers chises were struggling. The original owner of the magnate Stephen Ross (left) and USFL Commissioner Harry L Usher partici- Today FISP is no longer viable, government officials and Generals, an understated Oklahoma oilman named pate in a news conference in New York to discuss the agreement they have Look Familiar? analysts say. Donor funds for the budget have dried up in the Walter Duncan, had enough of the league after just reached in principle to merge the Gamblers and New Jersey Thirty years after the USFL’s collapse, many who wake of a scandal over two years ago dubbed “cashgate”, in one year and sold the team to Trump. Generals football franchises. participated in league see Trump’s presidential cam- which state officials siphoned millions of dollars. “We are To people who cared about sports - as opposed to paign as a replay of his football days. Some in lower going to have to be scaling down expenditure on FISP, we are New York development deals - Trump’s name wasn’t sold five apartments in the Trump Tower this week.’” Trump says, he had to pay $25,000 to cover his rival perches in the league say Trump suckered the league reacting to diminishing resources of funds for the budget,” widely known at the time. But the team proved to be a The team provided Trump with a calling card of owner’s unpaid stadium rental fees before the into self-destruction by supporting his attempt to Finance Minister Goodall Gondwe told Reuters. —Reuters perfect vehicle to carry him and his then-wife Ivanka sorts for his other endeavors. When Trump’s ambi- Generals could play. break into the clubby world of the NFL. Doug Allen, Trump into the public eye. The tryouts for the Brig-A- tions to build a casino empire in Atlantic City necessi- But even if a spring football season were viable, who was the players’ union representative in contract Dears earned coverage in The New York Times, the tated friends in New Jersey politics, the state’s gover- Trump didn’t have much interest in a league that was talks with the USFL, says Trump’s initial infusion of New York Daily News and the New York Post, with a nor, Thomas Kean, declared a “ going to be “low class, all third-rate players” anyway. charisma and money into the league turned from Post reporter even auditioning for the squad herself. Day” in 1985, appearing on field with Trump to give Just days after buying the Generals, Trump suggested blessing to curse. “Even if the league wasn’t going to All articles appearing on these The cheerleading squad was just the beginning. him an award. State troopers in Kean’s protection the new league could start playing in the fall - and make it, that wasn’t the way to go out of business,” pages are the personal opinion of During the first six months of his ownership, Trump’s detail came out to meet Trump and his own security winning against NFL teams - within a few years. “If Allen says. “He didn’t care if he wrecked the league, or name appeared 161 times in newspapers tracked by crew, Magrish said, “and, boy, did he love that.” “I think God wanted football in the spring, he wouldn’t have what happened to players in the long run.” the writers. Kuwait Times takes no the Factiva research service - more than it had the Generals were very helpful in getting approvals I created baseball,” Trump told ABC News. Generals But Tatham and Ehrhart - who supported the responsibility for views expressed appeared in the prior four years. “He didn’t want to be never would have gotten without them,” Trump told staff and fellow owners say Trump’s strategy for the USFL’s move to the fall - saw Trump’s effort as a savvy therein. Kuwait Times invites read- in the Daily News’ real estate section,” said Kevin the AP of his efforts to break into the New Jersey’s team was geared toward eventually forcing the NFL gamble that brought the USFL within a hair’s breadth ers to voice their opinions. Please MacConnell, the Generals’ former director of public regulated gaming industry. “Atlantic City sort of into a merger, or at least into picking up a few of the of busting into the country’s biggest sporting relations. Thanks to the Generals, he said, “he was on fueled my empire.” USFL’s most successful franchises. monopoly. They see a parallel in Trump’s current cam- send submissions via email to: opin- the front page of The New York Times and the Post.” Trump started lobbying other owners to switch to paign, with his unconventional strategy and ability to [email protected] or via snail Some of the publicity came from Trump’s pricey Trump’s Push into the Fall the fall season, cajoling and bludgeoning as needed, run circles around rival candidates. “I said before the mail to PO Box 1301 Safat, Kuwait. acquisition of marquee players such as The USFL bled money during its first two years. Tatham said. “It was no different than the debate first debate that it was going to be Trump and the . Yet much of the attention came at no Owners overspent on talent and the league expand- stage now,” Tatham said, referring to the 2016 presi- seven dwarfs,” said Ehrhart. Said Tatham: “I think The editor reserves the right to edit cost. Shortly after buying the Generals, Trump began ed at a rate that its audience could not justify. dential campaign. “You’re not going to embarrass Donald Trump looks at the United States like his fran- any submission as necessary. publicly courting legendary Coach Whether fixing these mistakes would have been him.” Trump, by his own admission, embarked on a chise in the USFL.” He added, “Don’t ever think he , insinuating that serious contract talks were enough to make a spring league viable remains the campaign of humiliating the NFL. He signed a player doesn’t know what he’s doing.” - —AP