Check out this Washington Post column about which athletes are giving to which politicians. It’s specific to the primaries for this year’s presidential campaign. There’s a lot of info out there about athletes and entertainers who give to political candidates and interest groups, but this particular article starts to break down exactly what kind of sports figures are giving to which politicos. For instance, NBA players overwhelmingly trend towards Obama, and owners/executives of sports franchises tended to like politicians like Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney. Interesting stuff, but it leads to the logical question- WHY are the owners going conservative and the players going liberal? That’s where it can get messy- it will bring up race and economic class, labor versus ownership, and what each group’s interests tend to be.

It seems obvious that NBA players- (we’re all grown up here, so I feel like I can say this) many of whom grew up in lower class areas of inner cities- would lean Democratic, despite their advanced income level. Their political tendencies are probably still on a caged asphalt court in Compton, even though they now live in Encino and support the trickle down economics of “making it rain” in the Champaign room. Okay, now I’m getting offensive.

On the other hand, owners and CEOs are white, came from money and are looking to secure some corporate welfare in the form of publicly-financed stadiums and arenas. They’ll scratch the back of whoever’s going to sell out to big business, give tax breaks to industry and old money, and that tends to be politicians on the right.

Also interesting: Owners give way more than players, on average. Why? Owners make more money and simply have more money to burn. Also, owners are looking for favors from the government that could potentially save them millions on their taxes or increase their stock prices. Because they serve to gain more, they’re willing to invest more.

There are major exceptions to both of these generalizations, but these were pretty obvious conclusion to draw from the data and some common stereotypes.

There’s plenty to read into, but it will have to wait for another blog another day…