Trump Picks New York Jets Owner as Ambassador
As Inauguration Day looms, President-elect Donald Trump continues to put together his transition team piece by piece.
Now, the owner of the National Football League's New York Jets has been named as an ambassador. Jets owner, and big time Trump fund raiser, Woody Johnson was named by the President-elect as Ambassador to the United Kingdom.
So what does this mean for the team?
The NY Daily News says that while Johnson won't have to step down from ownership, he will have to give up day-to-day control of the franchise for the next three years. From here, either Johnson's family will likely take over direct control, or there is also the option to bring in a group of executives or advisors to fill the gap.
Johnson and Trump didn't initially see eye-to-eye, as the Jets owner had backed Florida Governor Jeb Bush during the primary. This lead Trump to tweet at Johnson that had he supported him instead of Bush, the Jets would have made the playoffs. Trump was alluding to the Jets costly loss to the Buffalo Bills that kept them out of the postseason in January 2016.
While the move may seem a bit unusual, Johnson isn't the first NFL team owner to serve as ambassador. Pittsburgh Steelers chairman Dan Rooney served under Barack Obama's administration as U.S. Ambassador to Ireland from 2009-2012.
Johnson has been team owner of the New York Jets since 2000.