Previous posts have discussed campaign contributions and lobbying expenses by professional sports. So even the Super Bowl has a political angle, as the Center for Responsive Politics reports:
Managers and players from both teams have stepped into the political fray, donating $160,500 to politicians and to the NFL's political action committee since the early 1990s, according to Center for Responsive Politics research. Contributors related to both teams leaned slightly Republican, by $10,000. But most of the donations ($115,000) went straight to the NFL's PAC. League commissioner Roger Goodell and his wife have given an extra $55,900.
In addition, the NFL spent $1.14 million on lobbying last year. That's down from its record $1.62 million in 2011, but the league has come a long way in its political influence since 1998, when it spent just $360,000 to lobby tax, gaming, and broadcasting issues, according to OpenSecrets.org data.
Now the NFL has much more legislation to monitor. Last year, it lobbied TV programming and copyrights, human growth hormones, player safety and antitrust issues, sports betting and concussion legislation.
