'83 Chronology-Trump Card

Event Date: October 5th, 1983

Event Description:  Duncan Sells Generals

Source: United Press International

The New Jersey Generals of the United States Football League have called a Thursday news conference to announce the sale of the club to  a consortium led by real estate investor Donald Trump.

A source within the league said Trump, as well as representatives from Madison Square Garden Inc., and Generals' owner J. Walter Duncan will attend the 10:30 a.m. EDT conference at Trump Tower in midtown Manhattan.

The Generals finished 3-15 in the USFL's maiden season and club officials, including president and coach Chuck Fairbanks, have been negotiating the sale of the franchise for several weeks.

Last week, New York attorney Lonn Berney said he had purchased the Generals for $9 million and planned to move the team to a proposed stadium in Brooklyn, N.Y. The Generals and the USFL denied the sale of the club to Berney and stressed the franchise intended to honor a 20-year lease at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.

Owner John McMullen of baseball's Houston Astros and Madison Square Garden had previously been reported interested in acquiring the Generals, whose average attendance was just under 34,000 in 76,000-seat Giants Stadium.

Trump, 37, recently completed the 56-story Trump Tower and was the prime mover in a venture with the Hyatt Corporation to open an ultra-modern 1,407-room hotel next to Grand Central Station in Manhattan.

Terms of the sale were not disclosed, although it is believed that Trump and MSG Incorporated will each take control of 40% of the franchise. New York developer Stephen Ross and current head coach Chuck Fairbanks will each control 10%.

In addition to the sale of the Generals, former owner J. Walter Duncan has purchased the rights to a future expansion team to be based in Oklahoma which would be closer to his current business and oil interests. 

The league would not disclose when the team would begin play, but Commissioner Chet Simmons did confirm that Duncan had purchased the rights to the now defunct Wranglers’ franchise, including the rights to the team logo, some equipment and the copyright to the the name Wranglers.

Story-(UPI Modified)