For the second time this week, a team in the new United States Football League has signed a young player to a multiyear, multimillion-dollar contract of a size that stunned the sports world. On Monday the Los Angeles Express said quarterback Steve Young had signed a deal reportedly worth $40 million -- $6 million for four years, and $34 million in deferred payments through the year 2027.
Young, All-American quarterback at Brigham Young University, is 22 and has never played professional football. Today the New Jersey Generals extended their contract with Herschel Walker, their star running back, through the 1989 football season. Walker will reportedly get $6 million on top of the reported $5 million for his current three-year deal with the Generals.
Walker, also 22, has played only one year professionally. Walker is a former All-American and Heisman Trophy winner at the University of Georgia. He touched off a controversy over USFL recruiting practices when he left the university in the middle of his junior year to play for the Generals. He was the team's star and chief crowd pleaser last year in the USFL's first season of competition.
The new Herschel Walker deal was announced at a New York news conference today by the owner of the New Jersey Generals, Donald Trump. Trump is a millionaire real estate developer who bought the Generals last September for a reported $9 million.
First of all, are the figures I've given for Herschel Walker roughly accurate, $6 million on top of $5 million?
No, they're not really accurate, Robin, and it's been reported in the press, and it's just incredible to me. It just amazes me every time I look atthe numbers that are being reported in the press -- they're really not accurate. Nor are the numbers accurate for Steve Young. And it's one of those things.
To say that a player is going to get $40 or $45 million is just so preposterous. It amazes me when I read the papers and I pick up and I read all of a sudden that we're paying these kind of numbers, or that the Los Angeles Express is paying - --
Well, do you want to tell us what you are paying Walker?
Well, we're paying less than that to Herschel Walker. Herschel Walker's really -- what's happened with this league is so phenomenal.
Well, I mean, just to get some idea of how, proportionately, how wrong you think we are and the rest of the press. I mean are you paying him 50% less or - --
I would say we're paying a good -- you said - --
I said $6 million on top of $5 million.
I would say we're paying probably 25% less than that, and that's paid over a period of years. So when you look at it really, it's not $6 million. Assuming you were paying $6 million, even, over a six-year period -- that would mean a million dollars a year. That's really less than $6 million. That comes out -- time value of money brings that to about $4 million, perhaps even less. After taxes you're talking about $2 million, and even less than $2 million.
But is that four, on top of the five that he's already getting for the current three years?
Well, he got money last year. I didn't pay it, because I purchased the team three or four months ago. But he got money last year. This contract would be an extension of two years that he's got left on his current contract, and that money's paid at that time. It's not paid now; it's paid at that time.
Well, even with the figures you've now corrected, why is a 22-year-old football player worth that to a team like the Generals?
Well, only in that the NFL was trying very hard. It's a market value for a player, and the player's in a very good position right now. All of the players, the good players, the stars, are in a tremendous position. You have two competing leagues, each wanting to get the best players, each wanting to get the biggest names.
Herschel Walker right now at this point in time is probably the most important name in terms of football players anywhere in the country. We felt it was important to the Generals. The Generals have sold -- we should have 60 or 70 thousand people next week. Last week we had 73,000 people at a game. The week before that we had 63,500 people. The television ratings have been so phenomenal
In fact, ABC, which broadcast a game, was about 12 times what the other networks were in terms of watching this particular General game. So we want to keep that going, and if it means that we have to spend a little money to keep our stars, we'll do that.
But television ratings in the normal season have been going down for football for the last couple of years.
Well, you're talking about in the NFL season but you're not talking about the USFL. The USFL has been very hot. The Generals have been very hot. And we hope to keep it that way. The NFL ratings have been going down, that's correct.
And so this is a direct consequence of your attention -- what? Not only to divert attention from the NFL; to do what? To bring players over from the NFL?
I don't know. When you look at the draft, I mean the NFL draft this year is going to be a shambles. There's almost nobody left. Most of the good players and the great players -- Rozier and Young and last year Herschel Walker and Reggie White and this one and that one -- all of the great players have already signed with the USFL.
I don't even know why the NFL bothers having a draft this year, frankly, 'cause there's almost nobody left. They might as well just get together and do whatever they have to do. The fact is the NFL has got some problems now. The USFL has taken the media, they've taken the interest of the fans. When you look at games -- Pittsburgh this week is sold out, 60,000 people, sold out. They signed Mike Rozier.
Tampa is going to have, I understand, 55 or 60 thousand people at the Tampa game. We're going to have 60, 65, maybe even 70 thousand people, and I'd have 78,000, which is the maximum, if we wanted to black out the New York-New Jersey area, which I just chose not to do, because I think the people that can't go to the game would like to see the game.
Do you see a danger of turning off football fans? I know you've got a rush of new attention to the new league now. But turning off football fans with salaries like this, on top of football's other problems?
It's very possible. You don't know what's going to happen. It's a very deep psychological - --
It is possible? You think it is psychologically possible?
Well, no, I think it is. It's a deep psychological, and you really don't know what's going to happen; you don't know what the fan response is. I can tell you that the signing of Herschel Walker and keeping Herschel Walker, the NFL very desperately wanted to get Herschel Walker into that league, as you can well imagine.
The keeping of Herschel Walker was a very, very important thing to the New York fans. The New York fans are used to losing people and losing games and losing everything else, especially in football. And the keeping of Herschel Walker was a great signal, and we've had that response already in the form of ticket sales. The fans appreciate that we went out and we kept somebody, because they're just not used to that happening.
How can the Generals afford to pay Walker that kind of money when the team reportedly lost over a million dollars last year?
Well, the team lost a million dollars last year, and basically what's happened this year -- I mean, last year, in my opinion, I'll be perfectly honest, I was not in the league last year, I wasn't involved too much with the league last year - --
So you can afford to be honest.
Well, I can afford to be honest for last year. But the fact is that the league last year didn't quite hit the way it should have hit. This year it's hit much greater than anybody anticipated. When I say that we had 73,000 people and 63,000 people at our two away games already, that's about three times what we projected. So we're getting tremendous additional revenues - --
Good. You're saying it's paying off. You said we were also wrong, or the press is also wrong about the figures for Steve Young. If we're wrong, what are the right figures?
Well, the figures are substantially different than that. If you said Babe Ruth in 1928 made $100,000 and then you said what would that $100,000 mean in terms of 1984 dollars or 1983 dollars, you'd say, well, that could mean $25 or $40 million or $30 million. So a sportswriter in 1928, when Babe Ruth was getting $100,000, could say Babe Ruth signs for $24 million or $40 million. It's just preposterous. Steve Young, if you present-value his contract, is getting probably about $5 million over a four-year contract, and perhaps even less.
I said six over a four-year contract. And then another 34 in deferred payments until the year 2027. Is that wrong?
Well, what does that mean? That means that you're going to take about a million dollars and put it into a bank, an interest-bearing account - --
One million dollars now.
About a million dollars, paid now into an interest-bearing account in a bank, will be the kind of money that you're talking about. So an owner isn't paying $40 million or $45 million as they report, but - --
So it's like creating an annuity.
That's all you're doing, is creating an annuity, but it's so inaccurately reported. Because I pick up and I read where Steve Young is getting $45 million and all of these players are getting these ridiculous amounts, and it's just not so.
Well, Mr. Trump, thank you.
Thank you very much, Robin.
Charlayne?