Why Jets fans may not be happy with an ambassador Johnson
It doesn’t appear Woody Johnson’s appointment as U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom will have any effect on how the Jets, who haven’t made the playoffs since 2010, are run.
Sorry, Jets fans.
Trump, who will be inaugurated Friday, on Thursday referred to Johnson as “ambassador’’ during a Washington, D.C. luncheon and also said Johnson is “going to St. James,” a reference to the Court of St. James’s. The U.S. ambassador to the U.K. is known formally as the ambassador to the Court of St. James.
“Congratulations,” Trump told Johnson, who served as a vice chairman of the Trump Victory Committee, the joint fundraising committee between the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee, and helped raise millions of dollars for Trump’s campaign.
Incoming White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer confirmed Johnson’s appointment, which had been rumored for months.
The Jets on Thursday offered no comment on the proceedings, but it’s believed Johnson’s brother, Christopher Wold Johnson, who is 12 years younger than Woody, will elevate his role in the organization.
The 69-year-old Jets owner was asked by reporters after the season about the possible appointment by Trump, who’s a long-time friend of his, and said “it would be an honor to be considered,” declining to elaborate further.
NFL rules do not require Johnson, who bought the Jets in 2000, to sell the team because he will be living in England. Johnson, who serves on three NFL committees and likely will resign those positions, simply won’t be visible at the Jets games, which he almost always attends.
There is some precedent with Steelers chairman Dan Rooney having served as the ambassador to Ireland under the Obama administration from 2009 to 2012. Rooney resigned his committee posts and traveled back and forth to some home games, but he relinquished the day-to-day operations to his son, Art Rooney II, the team president.