At least 12 NBA teams have stayed at the Trump SoHo when visiting N.Y. since it opened in '10, but 11 of those teams said that they now have "stopped patronizing" the hotel since President Trump launched his run for office in '15, according to Bontemps & Fahrenthold of the WASHINGTON POST. The Raptors, Suns, Rockets, Kings and Wizards all "dropped Trump SoHo this summer and made different arrangements for the upcoming season." Another NBA team "quit staying" at Trump Int'l Hotel & Tower in downtown Chicago, and at least three NHL teams and one MLB club have "stopped frequenting Trump hotels in the same time." Warriors coach Steve Kerr, whose team quit using Trump SoHo in '16, said, "He continually offends people, and so people don’t want to stay at his hotel. It’s pretty simple." Bontemps & Fahrenthold noted some of the teams that have left Trump hotels "cited reasons outside politics." One team said that it was "difficult to get team buses in and out of Lower Manhattan." White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders in a statement "dismissed the idea that Trump’s attacks on sports teams were connected to the loss of pro athletes as customers." Bontemps & Fahrenthold wrote it is possible that Trump "still has some pro sports teams as clients." For instance, the Pelicans, who have frequented Trump SoHo in the past, "declined to say whether they were returning there this season, despite multiple inquiries" (WASHINGTON POST, 10/12).
