Donald Trump Nominates Florida Panthers Owner Vincent Viola as Army Secretary

This article originally appeared on VICE Sports Canada.

The Florida Panthers' ownership group is giving us a lot to talk about these days.

Just a couple weeks after firing their head coach—who led the team to its best regular season ever in 2015-16 while finishing second in coach of the year voting—Panthers owner Vincent Viola is back in the headlines after being nominated as Secretary of the Army by President-elect Donald Trump on Monday.

The majority owner will reportedly maintain all of his stakes in the team but will give up control of the day-to-day business operations with the Panthers and concede his role as chairman and governor of Sunrise Sports and Entertainment. The nomination, which is still pending approval from the NHL and confirmation from the US Senate, was addressed with a team statement from the Panthers organization on Monday.

"Ownership of the Florida Panthers will remain in the Viola family, which remains committed to the South Florida region. Subject to Senate confirmation and NHL approval, Mr. Viola has identified Mr. Douglas A. Cifu, currently serving as Vice Chairman and Alternate Governor of the club, to step into his existing role as Chairman and Governor of Sunrise Sports and Entertainment," the statement read.

Viola graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1977 and is a US Army veteran—training and serving as an Airborne Ranger infantry officer in the 101st Airborne Division. Viola instilled his military background and values into the team's fabric immediately upon purchasing the club in 2013, stacking his front office with staffers holding strong military backgrounds, including president and CEO Matt Caldwell—who graduated from West Point in 2002—and his classmate and assistant GM Eric Joyce. The team has trained annually at West Point since Viola took ownership of the club, and last summer changed its logo to more closely resemble that of the the Airborne Division.

The nomination started to become a reality over the weekend, as Trump reportedly met with Viola in New York City last Friday, but the writing may have been on the wall for a while now. In June, it was reported that the Panthers' team plane (technically owned by Viola) had been stripped of its hockey logos and rebranded—being used as a second plane during the final months of Trump's campaign, primarily to fly around Vice President-elect Mike Pence and his staff and media.

This is the second sports-related nomination Trump had made this month, appointing WWE magnate Linda McMahon as head of Small Business Administration (SBA) earlier in December. McMahon co-founded World Wrestling Entertainment, formerly WWF, with her husband Vince McMahon in 1979. She is the former chief executive of the company of which her family still owns a majority stake. And she was once KO'd by Stone Cold Steve Austin. Seriously.

For a guy who used a reality TV show to help build his brand, we really shouldn't be surprised that he is turning to the world of sports and entertainment to Make America Great Again as he prepares to take office in January.