By Carron J. Phillips
An asshole probably owns your favorite team.
That’s just how professional sports work in America.
With the 2026 Midterm Elections behind us, new data has revealed how major sports team owners contributed to influence who won at the ballot box. According to Front Office Sports, over $100 million was spent in the lead-up to Tuesday’s elections, with a majority of the money being directed to support Republican candidates, based on the analysis of data from the Federal Election Commission. Following the money has always been a way to uncover the truth, but, in this case, fans, who also serve as constituents, now know where the people who control sports stand politically — at a time in which political affiliation has become a harbinger of morality.
Dallas Mavericks owner Miriam Adelson led the way in giving to candidates in the House and Senate races. She spent a minimum of $67 million on Republicans. In comparison, the second-biggest donor was Denver Broncos owner Rob Walton, who gave a shade under $9 million to the GOP. Adelson, one of the largest donors in politics, spent $100 million to back Trump in 2024, and even told a crowd of people at a Hanukkah party at the White House that she would give Trump “another $250 million” if he ran for an unconstitutional third term.
“She loves this country,” Trump said about Adelson in a speech last year. “I’m going to get her in trouble with this, but I actually asked her once, I said, ‘So Miriam, I know you love Israel. What do you love more? The United States or Israel?’ She refused to answer. That might mean Israel.” In 2019, the Israeli-American wrote an Op-Ed for the Las Vegas Review-Journal in which she viewed Trump’s first term in office as a time of miracles: “Scholars of the Bible will no doubt note the heroes, sages and prophets of antiquity who were similarly spurned by the very people they came to raise up. Would it be too much to pray for a day when the Bible gets a ‘Book of Trump,’ much like it has a ’Book of Esther’ celebrating the deliverance of the Jews from ancient Persia?”
Dear Mavericks fans, good luck trying to make it back to the NBA Finals when your team is operated by a woman who is probably on Haley Stevens’s vision board.
Of the top 25 donors among sports owners, only three contributed to Democratic candidates. Seattle Seahawks owner Vinod Khosla led the way with giving a little over $2 million to Team Blue. Laura Ricketts, who has ownership in Chicago in the National Women’s Soccer League, the WNBA, and Major League Baseball, donated $316,500, and Atlanta Falcons/Atlanta United owner Arthur Blank chipped in $315,500. Some owners attempted to “straddle the political divide” by spending money on both parties. In the NBA and WNBA, Micky Arison of the Miami Heat ($172,100), Herb Simon of the Indiana Pacers/Fever ($130,00), Bill Cameron of the Dallas Wings ($27,930), Mark Walter of the Los Angeles Sparks ($10,000), and Mat Ishbia of the Phoenix Mercury ($10,000) donated to both sides of the aisle. The NHL was the only other league in which front offices split their donations: Craig Leipold of the Minnesota Wild gave $47,533, and Jeremy Jacobs of the Boston Bruins chipped in $42,000.
However, this data is so valuable because of its uncanny ability to expose those who claim to be one thing in public but the opposite in private. For instance, Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross — who once hired a Black head coach, Black general manager, Black defensive coordinator, and Black assistant head coach at the same time and was honored by the Jackie Robinson Foundation with its Lifetime Achievement Award for being a “longtime champion of equal opportunity”-- gave $225,500 to Republicans. The move was similar to what Arizona Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill did when he spent $336,500 on GOP candidates, despite spending time on the NFL’s diversity, equity and inclusion committee.
Somehow, the hypocrisy and the donation amounts both found a way to be high.
At the beginning of the year, a new report was released by “VoteHub” that examined voter registration data to determine the partisanship of pro athletes by sports leagues. In many ways, it proved that the perceived distinction between a “Black sport” and a “white sport” is closely linked to the racial breakdown of our two-party political system and the way each group has historically voted. The NHL and MLB had only 5.6% and 7.8% Democratic affiliations, respectively; the WNBA, NBA, and NFL reported 2.3%, 10%, and 20.2% Republican affiliations, respectively.
A decade ago, Colin Kaepernick’s kneeling —and Donald Trump’s reaction to it — sparked a movement that forever linked sports and politics. And though those days are long gone, with athletes now apathetic to taking political stands under this regime. Owners, however, have become more involved and more brazen about their political affiliations.
In 2018, FOX News’ Laura Ingraham told Lebron James and Kevin Durant to “shut up and dribble” because she disliked their political commentary against Trump. It was a clear political dog whistle, intended to silence Black athletes and, by extension, Black people when it comes to addressing important social issues.
Nearly ten years later, sports continue to play a significant role in American politics. However, the focus has shifted from athletes taking stands to team owners contributing to political campaigns in ways that should make fans reconsider their loyalties.
Carron J. Phillips is an award-winning journalist who writes on race, culture, social issues, politics, and sports. He hails from Saginaw, Michigan, and is a graduate of Morehouse College and Syracuse University. Follow his personal Substack to keep up with more of his work.