Editor's note: This is one in a series of six pieces that shows how professional sports owners in America contribute to political campaigns, why they spend millions in the space and what that financial power means as athletes across sports continue to embrace activism of their own.
BILLIONAIRES OPERATE DIFFERENTLY from the rest of us. An enthusiastic young supporter of an insurgent candidate might send off a $20 contribution to a campaign, but those with a large fortune cut checks for hundreds of thousands of dollars to national political parties and partisan super PACs. That's enough to blanket a market like Cincinnati or Raleigh with television ads for a couple of days.
While LeBron James appeared at a Cleveland rally for Hillary Clinton in 2016, NBA owners were pouring millions into the campaigns of her and her opponent, Donald Trump, directly and indirectly. One can debate the efficacy of the free media attention surrounding an event starring a person with James' recognition, but cold cash has a way of buying tangible resources for a national campaign. Money, as the saying goes, is the mother's milk of politics.
The NBA has long had a place in high-level American politics. Larry O'Brien, the namesake of the trophy presented to the Los Angeles Lakers in October, was NBA commissioner in the twilight of his professional career. He's most notable as a leading political operative central to John F. Kennedy's campaign, Lyndon Johnson's landslide victory in 1964 and Robert F. Kennedy's 1968 presidential bid who then served as chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
Herb Kohl served as a U.S. senator for 24 years during his tenure as owner of the Milwaukee Bucks. Between 1989 and his death this year, former NBA commissioner David Stern made more than $2 million in individual contributions to Democratic candidates for federal office and party committees. For years, NBA owners such as Larry Weinberg and Abe Pollin were leading, high-profile donors to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Today, NBA owners on average collectively donate more than $4 million per federal election cycle to candidates ranging from the far left to the far right poles of the political spectrum, according to Federal Election Commission research by ESPN and FiveThirtyEight.
These election records sometimes produce more questions than answers. Why did Chicago Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf make the maximum contribution to both Montana Sen. Jon Tester and his Republican challenger Matt Rosendale in 2018? Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta gave to Arizona Sen. Martha McSally in her unsuccessful reelection bid, so why does he now support her opponent in this cycle, Democrat Mark Kelly, to the tune of $15,400 (including a $10,000 donation to the Arizona Democratic Party)? Why did Indiana Pacers owner Herb Simon contribute to Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Chris Christie, Jeb Bush, John Kasich and Hillary Clinton -- all of whom were running for the same office in 2016?
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