Did the NFL play a role in Donald Trump’s presidential run?

One powerful American entity might be responsible for the rise of Donald Trump. And it’s not who you may think.

“Donald Trump wanted to own an NFL team. He wanted to own the Buffalo Bills,” ESPN‘s Stephen A. Smith explained to Andrew Wilkow on Friday. “So this is like within the last five years. The NFL wasn’t receptive to that in the eyes of Donald Trump, which played a role in him deciding to run for the presidency. It’s not an accident that you’ve heard the NFL very, very silent throughout this election and ultimately following the election.”

Smith, who is a host on SiriusXM’s Mad Dog Sports Radio, also admitted that political conversation has infiltrated the sports world.

“We just finished talking about Donald Trump,” Smith said, explaining the need to respond to comments made by professional athletes, specifically the New York Giants’ Victor Cruz. “And one of the things that I highlighted is that how divisive the rhetoric may have been but he’s our president-elect right now, and let’s not act like all 60 million people, you know, felt a certain way.”

“And you know, you’ve got a member for the New York Giants that had somebody invade the house and graffiti KKK and swastikas on his house and all of this other stuff,” Smith said referring to the vandalism of fullback Nikita Whitlock’s Northern New Jersey home. “Well, you can’t just sit up there and say, ‘a Trump supporter’ just because that person supported Trump. … Everybody ain’t feel that way. Can’t do that. It’s not right.”

The Wilkow Majority airs weekdays at 3 p.m. ET on SiriusXM Patriot (Ch. 127)

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Photo Credit: AP Photo/Andrew Harnik