US sports owners make huge political donations. Which party does your team’s give to?
SPort team owners in the major North American leagues have donated at least $132.1 million in federal elections since 2020, with nearly 95% of those contributions going to Republican campaigns, candidates and Super Pacs, The Guardian research shows.
Nearly all owners of the MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL, MLS, NWSL and WNBA franchises have been active political donors in election cycles since 2020. A minimum of $124,806,435 (94.5%) was earmarked for Republican-leaning candidates or committees. while at least $5,215,693 (3.9%) went to Democratic causes, according to Federal Election Commission disclosures and data collected by the nonprofit OpenSecrets, a nonprofit organization that tracks campaign finance spending. About 2% of contributions went to bipartisan or unaffiliated recipients.
The Guardian reviewed all federal campaign contributions from major team owners and/or managing partners from Nov. 4, 2020, through Oct. 16, 2024, the final FEC filing deadline before Tuesday’s election. The figures are believed to be a fraction of actual contributions since sports team owners, like many billionaires and millionaires, have multiple ways to hide their political spending.
Individuals are limited to donating $3,300 to a single candidate – once per candidate in the candidate’s primary and general election campaigns – but can contribute unlimited amounts to political action committees.
More than two-thirds of the total contributions from team owners — a total of $92,275,100 — come from Republican megadonor Miriam Adelson, who bought a majority stake in the Dallas Mavericks from Mark Cuban in late 2023. Adelson, a Nevada doctor who specializes in drug addiction, has poured at least $20 million into her political action committee Preserve America to support Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, with tens of millions more in down-ballot races across the country.
Overall, NFL owners were the most prolific givers, contributing $23,248,536 since the last US presidential election in November 2020. They also tended to be the most conservative, funneling $19,098,310 to Republican efforts, compared to $2,347,326 for Democratic causes. Another $1,802,900 went to bipartisan committees, most notably Gridiron-Pac, the NFL’s political action committee formed in 2008 as congressional scrutiny and public pressure over the league’s labor negotiations and head injury treatment began to increase.
Football’s most generous donor was Rob Walton, Denver Broncos co-owner and Walmart heir, whose family bought the Denver Broncos in 2022 for $4.65 billion. He donated at least $13.8 million to conservative groups and campaigns. The largest of these were two separate contributions of $5 million and $2 million to Americans for Prosperity, a conservative/libertarian Super Pac founded by Charles and David Koch that endorsed Nikki Haley for president in 2023 and has since focused its efforts on promoting conservative decline. – voting candidates.
Other NFL owners topping the seven-figure mark in contributions include David Tepper of the Carolina Panthers ($3.33 million), Arthur Blank of the Atlanta Falcons ($2.74 million) and Woody Johnson of the New York Jets ( $1.45 million), the Johnson & Johnson billionaire who previously served a three-year stint as Donald Trump’s selected U.S. ambassador to Britain.
A relatively small group of donors is responsible for more than 80% of the total contributions: with Adelson, Walton, Tepper, Blank and Johnson, along with Bill Foley of the Vegas Golden Knights, Ray Davis of the Texas Rangers, Charles Johnson of the San Francisco Giants, totaling $105,958,000 in donations over the past four years. Of these eight megadonors, all except White donated primarily to Republican causes.