For as loud as some calls were in recent years for athletes to “stick to sports,” relatively little attention has been given to the owners of sports teams – some of the most active political donors in the country. And this year’s Super Bowl participants are no exception.
LX News researched decades worth of political contributions from the Philadelphia Eagles' organization, the Kansas City Chiefs' organization and the families that own the teams. Here is a summary of their nearly 1,000 individual donations.
Which Politicians Do the Philadelphia Eagles Support?
While NFL owners are generally much more likely to donate money to conservative causes, the Eagles' ownership is an exception.
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Principal owner Jeffrey Lurie – who caused a stir following the team’s last Super Bowl championship over his criticism of then-President Donald Trump – and his current wife, Tina Lai Lurie, have made a series of small donations to left-leaning candidates and committees over the last decade, totaling $27,400. The Eagles franchise contributed another $2,500.
But Lurie was more politically active prior to his 2012 divorce from his first wife, donating primarily to Democrats such as Al Gore, Barack Obama, and both Hillary and Bill Clinton. But he also contributed to a handful of Republicans, too, including Bob Dole, George W. Bush and Rudy Giuliani. Lurie is worth an estimated $4.4 billion, according to Forbes.
His ex-wife, Christina Weiss Lurie, remains a minority owner of the Eagles and the most politically active member of the family, donating more than $230,000 to candidates & committees – almost exclusively Democratic – in the last decade. The recipient list includes the presidential campaigns of Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris; the U.S. Senate campaigns of Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and John Fetterman (D-Pa.), and the campaigns of Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-N.Y.) and Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-Pa.).
Politics
The Luries’ children, Julian and Milena, have also contributed approximately $27,500 to Democratic candidates and committees since 2015.
Two other minority owners – Richard Green and Michael Michelson – have each contributed upwards of $60,000 to political committees over the last decade. Green’s have mostly been to Democratic candidates, while Michelson’s have been spread more evenly between Democrats and Republicans, including well-known GOP candidates Jeb Bush and Paul Ryan and a handful of Senate centrists.
Which Politicians Do the Kansas City Chiefs Support?
The owners of the Chiefs, the Hunt family (worth more than $15 billion, according to Forbes), has donated approximately $900,000 to candidates and committees – almost exclusively conservative – over the last decade, according to federal and state filings.
The most politically active Hunts are family matriarch Norma, who has given nearly $500,000 to federal campaigns since 2016, and her son, Chiefs CEO Clark Hunt, who has donated more than $200,000 to federal campaigns during that time.
Among the dozens of Republican campaigns the Hunts have helped: prominent senators Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Marco Rubio (R-Florida), Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) and the late John McCain (R-Ariz.).
There were no reported contributions from the Hunt family to any presidential campaign since 2015, and Clark’s siblings – Daniel, Sharron, and Lamar Jr. – have contributed just north of $30,000 between them to federal candidates, all Republicans, since 2013.
The Chiefs' organization also contributed more than $80,000 to state political committees over the last 10 years, according to Missouri election records. Recipients include committees focused on electing Republicans to the state legislature, as well as committees supporting more progressive local initiatives, such as Together KC, a group that successfully boosted ballot initiatives related to community investment and affordable housing.
The NFL's Political Play
Most team owners also contribute to the NFL’s “Gridiron PAC,” a political action committee controlled by league commissioner Roger Goodell.
Collecting around $1 million every two years, the PAC then redirects a majority of the revenue into the campaign coffers of powerful DC lawmakers – on both sides of the aisle. The contributions are in addition to the NFL’s seven-digit annual lobbying spend.
Gridiron PAC has disclosed $265,000 in contributions from the Hunt family and $194,000 from the Lurie family since the committee’s 2008 inception.
While there have been numerous calls in recent years to boycott various companies over their owners’ political preferences, pro sports teams have, for the most part, avoided consumer backlash despite owners’ frequent forays into political causes.
A recent survey by Gallup and Bentley University found 75% of Democrats – but just 18% of Republicans – say businesses should speak out on political and cultural issues.
Neither the Eagles nor the NFL responded to requests for comment; a Chiefs spokesperson declined comment.
Noah Pransky is LX News' national political editor, covering Washington and state politics. His political and investigative work has been honored with national Murrow, Polk, duPont and Cronkite awards, and you can contact him confidentially at noah.pransky@nbcuni.com, or on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.
