Some NBA Owners’ Rhetoric is Contradicted by Donations

By Avery Wendell and Andrew Mangan

As of the morning of August 28, the most recent tweet from the Chicago Bulls’s Twitter account showed a picture of a Black Lives Matter protest sign, with the caption: “Bigger than basketball  #NBATOGETHER #BLACKLIVESMATTER.” In a similar vein, on May 31, six days after a police officer murdered George Floyd in Minneapolis, Michael Reinsdorf, the Chicago Bulls COO, and Nancy Reinsdorf, the president of Chicago Bulls Charities, released a statement that concluded: “There is a crisis in our country, and we need to redouble our efforts and work harder than ever… We at the Chicago Bulls organization are committed to working together to stand for real change. We can do this together.” 

On June 30, Jerry Reinsdorf, the longtime majority owner of the Bulls—listed as the team’s chairman on their official website—gave the maximum allowed amount ($2,800) to the Americans for Parnell Committee, the congressional campaign of Republican Sean Parnell.

 
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Parnell is currently running to be the representative of Pennsylvania's 17th congressional district, against Democratic incumbent Conor Lamb. Parnell’s website says that he “will always support our law enforcement and oppose efforts to defund the police.” Parnell quote-tweeted Lamb saying, in part, “Also, know who’s really bad at the whole ‘law & order’ thing? THE ANARCHISTS DESTROYING OUR NATION.” (Caps in original.) He has consistently accused Lamb of wanting to defund the police, despite Lamb consistently deriding such efforts. Parnell actively courted and received the support of President Trump. He also spoke at the 2020 Republican National Convention. 

The Reindorfs are not the only NBA owners and operators to have co-opted social-justice rhetoric while funding politicians hostile to social-justice outcomes. In a quick review of FEC donation data, Data for Progress found nine majority owners who contributed to Republican super PACs, PACs, campaigns, and committees. These included the owners of the Oklahoma City Thunder (Clay Bennett), the Orlando Magic (Dan DeVos), the Utah Jazz (Gail Miller), the Minnesota Timberwolves (Glen Taylor), the New York Knicks (James Dolan), the Chicago Bulls (Jerry Reinsdorf), the Miami Heat (Micky Arison), the San Antonio Spurs (Peter Holt), and the Houston Rockets (Tilman Fertitta).

It should be stated outright: FEC data has only name, state, and employer as identifying information. Therefore, the exact person responsible for a donation can be confused; moreover, these donations are not representative of any individual’s entire political involvement. Indeed, working from the FEC search, it was often difficult to attribute specific donations to specific team owners, so this list may be incomplete. This analysis also focuses on majority owners; owners without a controlling stake may be engaging in similar duplicity. 

Even taking those caveats into account, there is a clear pattern of some NBA owners’ donations being out of step with the stated goals of their coaches and players as well as the rhetoric used by their own teams. Gregg Popovich, the outspoken coach of the Spurs, used a recent media appearance to praise the city of Austin for slashing its police budget, and called President Trump a racist. On June 6, in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder, the Spurs Twitter account posted a video where Popovich declares, “We have to not let anything go. Our country is in trouble and the basic reason is race.” Despite this, the owner of the Spurs, Peter Holt, has given thousands of dollars to Republican causes over the past ten years, including $2,700 to Carson America, a PAC supporting Ben Carson’s 2016 presidential run. Carson, following the shooting of Trayvon Martin, said in an interview with Chris Wallace that he did not think racial profiling was a threat to black men.

Peter Holt’s personal FEC donation record seemingly goes dry after 2018, and while it shows no support for Trump, Julianna Hawn Holt, Peter Holt’s now ex-wife, took over as chairperson of the team in 2016 and gave $250,000 to the Trump Victory Fund that year.

Several NBA owners have donated to Trump more recently. Six days after George Floyd’s murder, James Dolan, the majority owner of the New York Knicks, gave $355,000 to the Trump Victory Fund. Tilman Fertitta, the owner of the Houston Rockets, gave $35,000 to the Trump Victory Fund in February this year. Dan DeVos, the owner of the Orlando Magic and relative of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, gave $200,000 to the pro-Trump super PAC America First Action earlier this year.

Some donation histories are even darker. For instance, in late 2017, Glen Taylor, the owner of the Minnesota Timberwolves, gave $2,700 to the campaign of Steve King, a congressman who is an outspoken white supremacist and who was primaried this year.

 
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This runs in stark contrast to the efforts of NBA players, most of whom have bravely stood against white supremacy and police brutality. Their donations, their leadership, and collective action have helped keep systemic racism in the nation’s focus. Moreover, the concrete concessions that they have secured from NBA ownership and the league itself will do demonstrable good.

As many in America continue to search for ways to dismantle white supremacy, a good step would be to pressure NBA owners to match their platitudes with financial donations to antiracist causes—and to stop donating to those actively working against racial equality and police accountability


Avery Wendell (@awendell98) is a Master of Business Administration student at the Wharton School and a Master of Public Policy student at the Harvard Kennedy School. He works as a data scientist, focusing on green energy policy and social media misinformation. 

Andrew Mangan is a senior editor for Data for Progress and a writer living in Kansas City.

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