Less than a half-mile from the California State Capitol, the Sacramento Kings play basketball games in a solar-powered arena that, with the help of the team’s owners, has worked to make the Kings “the most sustainable franchise in sports.”
But step into the Golden 1 Center and you may encounter promotion for fossil fuels.
According to a study by the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law, the Kings are one of 59 U.S. sports teams that receive sponsorship money from major oil companies or utility companies that operate primarily on fossil fuels. The list includes six California teams: the Kings, the Los Angeles Football Club, the Oakland Athletics, the San Francisco Giants, the San Francisco 49ers and, as I’ve written before, the Dodgers.
If you’re wondering why this matters, let me tell you that fossil fuel companies, like the tobacco profiteers of old, are bribing the owners of our beloved institutions, including our favorite teams, to clean up their tarnished image and help us forget that their harmful products are causing and (not to mention) causing cancer.
I could tell you about the research, or I could ask you to imagine going to a Sacramento Kings game, or a Giants game, or a 49ers game, or an LAFC game, and seeing a cigarette ad or a gun ad above the scoreboard.
Hard to imagine, right? So why is Big Oil’s propaganda tolerated?
Evan George, communications director at the Emmet Institute, who conducted the study with the help of several undergraduate students, believes it’s time to end this type of sponsorship, which he calls “sportswashing,” a play on greenwashing.
“Big oil companies want to be seen as local heroes, not social nuisances,” he said.
George noted that California Attorney General Rob Bonta has accused state regulators of “decades of fraud.” Defendants include Chevron Corp., which sponsors the Kings, Athletics, Giants and Los Angeles Football Club, and Phillips 66, which sponsors the Dodgers.
“There are more Californians going to baseball games on the weekend than reading the 100-page complaint filed by the state of California,” George said. “Here’s why fossil fuel sponsorship is so harmful.”
Speaking of Attorney General Bonta, he’s a Athletics fan: When he and his son threw out the ceremonial first pitch before an Athletics game in Oakland in 2018, a cute Chevron car ad on the outfield wall served as a very prominent backdrop — at least that’s how it turned out in a video Bonta, then a state representative, later filmed.
I’m not criticizing Bonta: I’ve been going to Dodgers games all my life and reporting on the climate for a decade, but it wasn’t until this summer that I realized I was advertising Phillips 66. Phillips 76 gas station ads loom above both scoreboards.
Does Bonta think California teams should stop accepting fossil fuel sponsors? His spokesman wouldn’t tell me.
But UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called on all countries to do the same.
In theory, a climate-conscious California legislature would be a great place to start.
But in reality, passing aggressive anti-oil legislation in Sacramento may be difficult given the moderate Democrat majority, which is why it would be so helpful if private sector actors like sports teams took the lead and helped make oil companies outcasts.
I start this column with the Kings not only because they play a few blocks from the Capitol, but also because there is a stark contrast between the propaganda presented by their owner, former tech executive Vivek Ranadivé, and the fossil fuel propaganda he is happy to flaunt to his fans, if the price is right.
As noted by Yahoo Sports, Chevron funds an event called “The Winning Drive” where Kings players drive around the city. (You can also watch highlights from the Chevron-sponsored “Drive of the Game” on the Kings’ X account.) The team also has a partnership with Marathon Petroleum subsidiary ALCO, which provided service to fans using ALCO’s gas stations at Golden 1 Center last season.
Ranadivé wrote a few years ago after the Golden 1 Centre opened: “We all need to do our part to stop climate change and improve our environment, and it warms my heart to see the progress being made.”
The cognitive dissonance could be even worse: The Kings’ former arena was literally…
A Kings spokesperson did not respond to my request for comment, nor did representatives for the Athletics or Giants. So does LAFC, whose team has partnered with an oil giant, in this case Chevron, for a noble cause that bolsters the polluting company’s image in its local community — arguably Chevron’s nefarious purpose.
By refusing to discuss the matter, these teams followed the same strategy as the Dodgers, whose leaders would not say anything about asking the team and its official charity to end funding for fossil fuels.
The Dodgers’ silence did not quiet the public outcry.
As of Wednesday evening, 11,700 people had called on team owner Mark Walters to drop Phillips 66 as a sponsor and remove the 76’s advertising, while the Los Angeles chapter of the Sierra Club was planning a rally to make the case, scheduled for this Sunday at noon before a home game.
“I hate that I can’t take a photo of my kid without 76 in it,” George says.
No one team can save the world alone, but as I’ve experienced, what happens in LA doesn’t stay in LA: the city is a global trendsetter through entertainment, technology and culture more broadly.
And oil money in sports is a global issue: The New Weather Institute released a report this week estimating that fossil fuel companies spend $5.6 billion on sports sponsorship deals around the world.
It’s hard to know how much of that money is being spent in the U.S. Even the Emmett Institute’s tally of 61 fossil fuel deals across six leagues (including two league-wide partnerships) is a clear underestimate.
For example, while watching the Dodgers-Braves game at Truist Park in Atlanta over the weekend, I noticed an ad for Marathon Petroleum on the outfield wall. The data UCLA used was from London-based SportsPro Media, which didn’t reflect this sponsorship. It also didn’t include the NBA’s deal with ExxonMobil as a league contract, but it did reflect that Exxon is also the official fuel of the WNBA.
“I wouldn’t say it’s comprehensive,” George acknowledged.
Of the 61 sponsorships reflected in UCLA’s tally (full spreadsheet), 26 are oil companies. The remaining 35 are gas or electric utilities that derive the majority of their electricity from coal or fossil gas.
Some of you may think that sports is not the right place to address climate change – that all we need to do is go after oil and gas executives, win elections, and take to the streets – but stop complaining about the billboards.
I know exactly what you’re saying, and I agree, and the problem is that global warming is like every other historical injustice, from the harm felt by people of color to a political system that needs to be shaken out of its paralysis.
To avoid climate chaos, the most influential people in society, including the sports world and other sectors with cultural and economic influence, need to stop sitting on the sidelines and start taking real responsibility.
Or we can look forward to a future of 110-degree summer afternoons at the ballpark.
California Burning
As of Wednesday afternoon, Southern California’s three largest fires — the Bridge Fire, the Rhine Fire and the Airport Fire — had burned 117,000 acres. Fortunately, cooler temperatures have allowed firefighters to continue battling the blazes: the bridge fire is 37% contained, the railroad track fire is 50% contained, and the airport fire is 35% contained.
As always, there are stories of heartbreak and stories of hope. Let’s take the fires one by one, starting with the bridge fire.
- The hardest hit damage was felt in the San Gabriel Mountains in the town of Wrightwood, as seen below. (Reporting by Nathan Solis, Haley Smith and Lila Seidman for the LA Times)
- Southern California ski resorts are in dire straits now and for the foreseeable future. (Alex Wigglesworth and Summer Lynn)
- In the village of Mount Baldy, residents are trying to save as many homes as they can. (Nathan Solis)
Moving into the San Bernardino Mountains, the Rhine Fire is burning.
Finally, visit Orange County’s Trabuco Canyon and the site of the Airport Fire.
- When to flee, when to stay? Many residents faced this dilemma. (Hannah Fry)
- Photo shows firefighters rescuing a seriously injured woman. (Noah Goldberg, Colleen Shalby)
- Volunteers evacuate, a common occurrence in Orange County. (Gabriel San Roman)
- Some victims are asking, “Why was their house saved and mine wasn’t?” (Colleen Shalvey)
As always, satellite images of the smoke . For on-site photos, look no further than those by my LA Times colleagues Wally Scalisi, Gina Ferrazzi and Allen J. Schaven.
Some articles about the impacts of climate change-induced fires:
Are you struggling to interpret wildfire jargon? Here’s an article by John Healy and Joseph Serna from The Times, and here’s a guide to the .
One more thing
I’m not the president of the United States (probably for the best), but if I were, I wouldn’t threaten to withhold firefighting aid when a state is on fire, or at any other time, as former President Trump did last week.
From Seema Mehta, Haley Branson Potts and Faith E. Piño of The Times: The California Firefighters Union was not happy, saying its president was “endangering public safety.”
This is the latest issue of Boiling Point, a newsletter about climate change and the environment in the American West. Or open the newsletter in your web browser .
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NOTE: Based on incorrect information from state officials, Boiling Point on Tuesday listed the American Forest and Paper Association as opposed to Senate Bill 1053. The association has taken a neutral stance on the bill.
