Playing the Game of Money and Politics

By Chris Heagarty
Published: Oct. 1, 2007

RALEIGH - You can’t watch sports on TV without being bombarded by beer commercials that tell you to “enjoy their products responsibly.” That’s pretty good advice. In fact, it’s advice we should apply not just to beer, but also to our professional and college sports.

There’s no question that Americans enjoy sports, especially here in North Carolina. But even immersion in sports is no sanctuary from money in politics. Professional sports leagues and sports-marketing companies are all part of a multi-billion-dollar industry. You don’t have to look too deeply under the headline issues to find big money at work affecting policy.

Where’s the foul-ball line when it comes to lobbying and campaign donations by sports groups? Does spending by professional sports franchises give them special deals at the expense of fans and taxpayers?

Consider all of the recent sports scandals, especially those concerning steroids. Consider the special exemptions from regulations that other businesses have to follow. Count up how frequently teams troll for subsidies and incentives by dangling the relocation of their teams as reasons for state and local government to pony up some tax money. Professional sports interests are professional political interests as well.

The Center for Responsive Politics reports that the professional sports industry spent $3.9 million on lobbying in 2006, with more than $1 million coming from baseball. The National Football League spent $430,000 on lobbying during the first six months of this year, while Major League Baseball has tallied more than $540,000 during the same period. It’s probably no coincidence that baseball has been able to retain its unique antitrust exemption that many fans and players feel is ruining the sport, but enriching the big-market owners.

Following the trend of more established leagues, relatively minor sports such as professional soccer got into the game with D.C. United spending $360,000 for lobbying in 2006.

Even “amateur athletes” are professionals when it comes to influencing government. College sports are a major player and both the NCAA and the Bowl Championship Series employ lobbyists to represent their interests. The BCS reportedly spent about $120,000 to lobby Congress in defense of their ranking system, after fans around the country protested which teams were getting top bowl bids.

Here in North Carolina the fastest growing political action committees, or PACs, don’t represent hog farms, developers or big utilities. They represent big boosters of our colleges and universities. The Citizens for Higher Education PAC, a group of UNC-Chapel Hill boosters, was the second-largest spender among special interest groups in the 2006 elections.

It probably didn’t take too much effort for clever politicians to figure out that if someone has the bucks to give tens of thousands of dollars each year to their favorite college teams, they probably have a little bit to spare for candidates with pro-sports records.

State legislators recently tweaked university scholarship policies so that highly recruited out-of-state athletes can qualify for in-state student tuition, making the cost of their scholarships a lot cheaper.

Helping attract blue-chip recruits obviously helps our college teams, and that’s popular with their fan bases, but it also means the taxpayers subsidize the lower tuition costs for these out-of-state athletes, while university libraries have to cut journal subscriptions and reduce lab hours to cut expenses. Did these booster PACs influence that decision?
It’s time to put political spending by professional and college sports under review.

There’s no question that college athletics provide real economic benefits for their schools. Boston College’s applications from southern states have exploded since they joined the ACC. Professional sports teams can add to the economic vitality of a region, increasing travel and tourism as well as fueling other businesses that support the needs of the team and its fans.

Lobbying efforts by college and professional sports teams have helped combat gambling and sports corruption. And, let’s be honest, many of us just really, really like sports and consider it entertainment worth the investment.

But just like that cold beer we are being encouraged to consume responsibly, let’s be responsible about how we consume our tax dollars when it comes to how much influence we allow sports teams to have over our government.