Owners poured $100m+ into this cycle and lost, but both parties helped build the betting-and-subsidy machine that keeps billionaires winning.
American sports owners went all in this election cycle, and the scoreboard did not go their way. Team owners across the pro leagues reportedly pushed more than $100m into political races, and a Democratic sweep has now reshuffled the balance of power in Washington. The people who bankroll the biggest franchises in the States backed a side, and that side took the L.
Before anyone starts calling it a victory for fans, look at the other bench. Democrats may be the force that ends the Maga era, but they have also been central to building the money machine around US sports. New Jersey's governor, Phil Murphy, placed the state's first legal sports bet in 2018. Illinois governor JB Pritzker signed sports betting into law a year later. In 2022, New York's mobile sportsbooks launched under Governor Kathy Hochul, with the state taking 51% of the revenue.
Pritzker and Hochul both won on Tuesday. In some of the largest betting markets in the country, the bookmakers' most dependable ally has been a Democratic statehouse. Gambling windfalls, tax revenue and the push to legalise have never been a one-party game.
The same goes for stadium subsidies and the wider playbook that keeps franchise values soaring. Both parties have fed an ecosystem that enriches the billionaires at the top of American sports. So the real question is not which colour controls Washington. It is whether the new balance of power will do anything to change who profits from the games, or whether the owners simply adjust their game plan and keep cashing in.
