Earnhardt Jr. last month. Motorsports
had the highest percentage of GOP
donations over a recent 12-month period. Set within a presidential election in which tax policies have become a front-burner issue, with Obama favoring increases for the highest earners and McCain promising cuts, it should come as no surprise that wealthy sports owners and many of their top executives are leaning heavily toward McCain. About 71 percent of the campaign money that came from sports went toward McCain and Republican fundraising committees. Motorsports interests and the NFL came in as the reddest of the leagues, with 96 percent and 77 percent of their funds, respectively, landing for McCain. Major League Baseball and the NBA shook out slightly closer, at about 60-40 Republican. Donations from the NHL were about 65 percent Republican. Those who bang drums about the “liberal” press will embrace the news that sports media was the only segment that SportsBusiness Journal tracked that leaned blue, with 68 percent of contributions going to Obama and Democratic committees. Reading too much into those numbers can be hazardous to any understanding of the interplay between sports and politics. The shift in political philosophy at the NFL office is a more tangible topic worth exploring. As owners of the NFL Network, the league is in the television business now, and locked in a frustrating scrum with cable operators Comcast and Time Warner. The NFL watched with concern earlier this month when congressman Barney Frank got a bill that could overturn the Internet gambling ban out of committee. It is now pending for full vote in the House. In recent years, Congress has pressed the league on its drug-testing policies and benefits for retired players. And then there is the matter of an anticipated labor dispute that figures to occupy the NLRB, and possibly get the attention of Congress. Never has the federal government had quite this much impact on the way the organizers of the Gridiron PAC conduct their business. One change that paved the way for the shift in approach was the selection of Goodell, whose father was a Republican U.S. congressman and senator, as commissioner. Goodell’s political sensors told him that the league needed to reshape its strategy. He began to discuss the feasibility of a PAC with Browne when he was the league’s chief operating officer. Now in his second year as commissioner, Goodell felt empowered to make the change. For the better part of two decades, the NFL has kept a consistent, if low-profile, presence in Washington, maintaining an office at a D.C. law firm and funding a lobbying budget that has grown to about $750,000 a year. The league also is changing the way it handles that part of its business. Earlier this month, it hired an experienced politico, Jeff Miller, to the newly created position of vice president of government relations and public policy. Miller, who will report to Browne, comes to the league after serving as chief counsel and staff director for Sen. Herb Kohl, the owner of the Milwaukee Bucks. The NFL will become the third major sports property to employ its own D.C. lobbyist, joining Major League Baseball and the NCAA. The NBA, NHL, NASCAR and other large sports enterprises all farm their work out to D.C. lobbying shops. “The Washington lobbying teams have increased tremendously for industries that take positions opposite ours,” Browne said. “We decided it was time for our little cottage industry to have one full-time person in Washington.” The NFL has found itself on the opposite side of cable operators Comcast, which last year spent $4.9 million on lobbying, and Time Warner, which dropped $1.8 million. Comcast contributed about $1.1 million to federal election campaigns last year. Time Warner Cable gave about $240,000. The hiring of Miller and creation of the PAC go hand-in-hand. Many lobbyists consider PACs to be a valuable tool that helps open doors with legislators and regulators. They also enable owners to contribute more heavily than they can as individuals to a campaign. Federal election laws limit individual contributors to giving $2,300 to any federal candidate, per election, with a primary counting as a separate election. They can give up to $5,000 per year to a political action committee, $10,000 per year to a state or local party and $28,500 to a national party. Combining all those, they can’t exceed $108,200 in contributions in a two-year period. When combining with a spouse, a donor couple can double each of those limits. 
Owners like the Steelers’ Dan Rooney, shown
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Red league, blue league: who’s giving to whom |
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Among the sectors that combined to give more than $100,000, only one, sports media, gave more to the Democratic side than to the Republican.
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with Barack Obama in April, can donate
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Red league, blue league: who’s giving to whom |
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Among the sectors that combined to give more than $100,000, only one, sports media, gave more to the Democratic side than to the Republican.
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to the NFL’s new Gridiron PAC. “This is going to supplement what our owners do on their own and also for their other businesses,” Browne said, “and it’ll come in the name of the NFL club.” Owners will continue to make their own political choices outside the league, as they always have. At the NFL’s quarterly meeting earlier this month, Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney walked the halls wearing an Obama campaign button. Rooney announced in April that he was endorsing Obama — the first time he’s taken so public a political stand — posing for photos with him before the Pennsylvania primary. He appeared at rallies earlier this month and recently hosted a reception for Michelle Obama after she spoke in Pittsburgh. On the roster of Steelers’ owners and employees, you will find a gaggle of Rooneys, many of whom have been particularly active political donors this cycle. As of the most recent filings, none had given to Obama. But eight of them had combined to give almost $20,000 to a Republican challenger running for Congress in South Florida. The Obama camp would forgive the Rooney family for its political division. That Republican candidate is Tom Rooney, grandson of team founder Art Rooney, and nephew of Dan.
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Red league, blue league: who’s giving to whom |
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Among the sectors that combined to give more than $100,000, only one, sports media, gave more to the Democratic side than to the Republican.
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