The polls failed again in the US elections. The demographic studies that predicted a close scenario between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris to win the presidency were far from being fulfilled. The Republican Party candidate achieved 301 electoral votes, 31 more than the 270 necessary, compared to the 226 of the Democratic alternative. In the days before the election, several videos on NFL fields, the main American football league, went viral. Without methods or projections, but they showed the overwhelming support of football fans for Trump. While NBA figures such as Stephen Curry or LeBron James positioned themselves against the conservative, in the sport of the ball he had his greatest sporting support.
Adelson, owner of the Mavericks, Trump’s great sports patron
The spectator of each of the sports cannot be standardized, because they respond to millionaire and diverse masses of fans. But the recent US elections have also been an open combat between the stars of the two most followed sports in the country, along with baseball, which recently held the World Series. The final fight of the competition that they have won Los Angeles Dodgers in front of the New York Yankees and that in Trump’s previous term he saw how the historic agreement he had with the Cuban Baseball Federation was annulled. Through it, it was intended to end the trafficking of players, forced to desert to sign a contract in North America.
Antonio Browm and Le’Veon Bell were the great supporters of the NFL for Donald Trump. / AP
It is just a significant example of how sport is politics and power in the United States, where the NFL and the NBA have defended opposite positions through their most significant figures. Behind the franchises there are big names, essential to understand the financing of campaigns with private capital. One of Trump’s biggest patrons has been Miriam Adelson, who, according to data from Front Office Sportscontributed an amount close to 100 million dollars to support the Republican’s candidacy. She is co-owner of the basketball team Dallas Maverickswhose shareholders also include Mark Cuban, one of the most active defenders of Kamala Harris.
Miriam Adelson is the widow of Sheldon Adelson, a Jewish magnate, known, like his wife, for his strong support of Israel. Just the opposite of Kyrie Irving, star of the Mavs, openly supportive of Palestine. Adelson’s has been a dissonant voice in the NBA environment. The former Los Angeles Lakers player Magic Johnson He was one of the promoters of Athletes for Harris, an organization that stressed the importance of the African-American vote: “I want to make sure that black men understand the importance of supporting the next president of the United States.”
The irony of Steve Kerr, Warriors coach, after the elections
In the context of the US elections, there have been no half measures or calls for general participation against an unspeakable enemy, as happened with those alleged by Kylian Mbappé in the French team to stop the extreme right in France. LeBron James, general captain of the Lakers, posted on his social networks: “When I think about my children, my family and how they will grow up, I am clear about my vote: Vote for Kamala Harris!” Chris Paulof the San Antonio Spurs, assured that the Democratic candidate “is committed to all of us and is what we need right now.”
For its part, Steve Kerrcoach of the Warriors, positioned himself before and after the elections. “In the words of the great Stephen Curry – whom he trains – Donald Trump, go to sleep,” he said before the elections. After knowing the results, he ironically said: “I am grateful because this time there has been no electoral fraud, not like the last time, when all those illegal immigrants crossed the border, raped and killed people and then voted six times. Luckily, this everything was clean, and it’s great that all the elections were valid with the exception of four years ago. A direct criticism of the accusations of manipulation that Trump encouraged and that led to the assault on the Capitol in 2021.
Miriam Adelson, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, and Trump’s third highest patron. / GARETH PATTERSON / AP
The climate has been opposite in the NFL, where the elected president has obtained the support of former players such as Le’Veon Bell and Antonio Brown, both African-Americans, who were present at a campaign event in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. The most important pendulum state of those that were at stake and that fell on the Republican side. Trump was seen in the match of the day between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the New York Jetsas a guest in a box at the Acrisure stadium. It was a mass bath. The elected US president was received by a crowd of supporters carrying a banner with the message ‘Trump Nation’. Even a local supporter jumped onto the field in the third period with a sign in favor of the candidate.
Dana White, the UFC CEO that Trump wanted in his cabinet
Trump is a personal friend of Woody Johnson, owner of the Jets, who was also briefly the US ambassador to the United Kingdom during the businessman’s administration. The cabinet of the man who will become the 47th president of the North American country, Susie Wileshas a close relationship with the NFL. She is the daughter of the late American football player and sports commentator Pat Summerallin charge of broadcasting up to 16 Super Bowls, partnering with another football legend like John Madden. On three occasions, Trump successfully became the owner of an NFL franchise and, faced with the impossibility of executing a purchase, he came to support United States Football, which tried unsuccessfully to compete with the largest American football league.
Trump has found a media outlet in sports and several athletes are candidates to be in his cabinet, as already happened with Johnson, who could be in his second administration. Herschel Walkerformer NFL running back, is another of the candidates, after being part of Trump’s Council on Sports, Physical Fitness and Nutrition from 2018 to 2022. But the big signing that the new president aspired to was Dana Whitetop leader of the UFC, a mixed martial arts competition in which the Spanish Ilia Topuria stands out. He has been very close to the Republican in the campaign and has invited him to several of the big events. “Donald Trump is one of my best friends. He did a great job in his last term as president and I know he will do an even better job in the next four years. But I have no personal political aspirations,” he said in a recent interview.
