Orlando Magic Gave $50,000 to Never Back Down

[ogmagicfan]

It also doesnt help this news came out during the slowest part of the offseason, during an off season thats slow even by NBA standards.

[bigdogdylan5]

It's mindblowing to me people won't admit how stupid it is though.

Simply don't attach the team to it - that's all anybody is asking, especially since people already know most owners donate to political parties anyway.

Don’t they have to because of contribution law? Business can give more than individuals in our f up system.

That's true, but the Devos family has plenty of businesses they could donate money from, or create a phony business solely so they can donate more money to Desantis.

So the problem is not that they donated the money but they didn’t hide it well enough? I just don’t think it’s a huge deal.

[ogmagicfan]

Don’t they have to because of contribution law? Business can give more than individuals in our f up system.

That's true, but the Devos family has plenty of businesses they could donate money from, or create a phony business solely so they can donate more money to Desantis.

So the problem is not that they donated the money but they didn’t hide it well enough? I just don’t think it’s a huge deal.

There's a diff btwn "hiding it well enough" and donating behind a sports franchise, which I've never seen before.

Like I posted earlier, most sports owners have the same politics as the Devos family, albeit not as involved as them. Donating under the team name can give us a worse connotation due to the fact that it makes it look like it reflects what our franchise values and not just the owners. Hence the Larry Nance comment. It's bad publicity.

[Fortune Teller]

So i tried to invest some time and figure& learn any potential negative impacts of Orlando donating money to political party.

Aaaaand...drumroll.... To zero suprise to me, i learned around 80% of nba players don't vote
Than i used my favorite-hate place ,reddit to explore it deeper, as some person had intell on how many times players from Texas voted , i assume because he lives there and...once again, drumroll.... vast majority of credible players never voted

It's just drama over nothing. Should NBA team donate money ? No. Does donating money for person who fights your other sponsor both dumb and funny ? yes. But here wer are. Nobody will care about this in a week. Enjoj your summer.

Pepe, I don't think you live in Florida, and I don't think you even live in the States, so I get why this seems trivial to you. But Magic season ticket holders don't live in Europe, New York, California or Australia. Most of them live here in Orlando, and many have children in the public schools here who are being affected by these policies. Not everyone is amused.

As far as NBA players not voting, if those statistics are accurate then that is frustrating. However, I don't think it's relevant. Given their choice of teams, do you really, honestly think this sort of thing has no impact? If they don't know who's signing them to a multi-year contract, their agents do, because that is their job.

The backlash that should have the DeVos family worried is Disney, because that affects the bottom line. And again, if you don't live here, you have no idea how ugly the Disney-DeSantis battle is. Federal court battle, state court battle, DeSantis killing Disney's infrastructure district, and Disney responding by canceling plans for a $1 billion creative campus development in Orlando that would have brought around 2,000 high-paying jobs here from California. He's pissing off a lot of republicans here because his silly culture war nonsense is costing people a lot of money. I honestly can't think of anything more stupid for the DeVos family to do right now than give money to his PAC in the team's name, with Disney's name on their jerseys. I mean this is jaw-dropping stupid.

https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/disney-cancels-plans-relocate-2000-jobs-florida-company-email-2023-05-18/

[Fortune Teller]

Would you care if it was to Charlie Crist instead of Desantis?

If you read my first message, it says "Donating under the team name is ridiculous, idgaf who they're donating to."

Also Crist isn't really the dunk you're trying to make considering he's a Republican and switched to Dem because Dems keep going to the right.

But yes, it's an really bad look donating using the ORLANDO MAGIC franchise to a politician who's eradicting what little amount of black history they teach in schools in Florida, and wants to highlight the "positive effects" of slavery on black people. A great look when trying to retain & attract talent in a league where 80% of NBA players are black. Definitely how you build a dynasty.

They shouldn’t do it but they did.
What happens now?

The rest of what you wrote is a political statement that I won’t get into, nor should this board.

It wasn’t smart to do it under the Orlando Magic as an organization not entirely sure why they did in the first place. However, this thread would still exist if Devos contributed regardless.

The DeVos family gives literally millions of dollars to far-right and Christian conservative causes and candidates. There would be thousands of threads about it if you were right. This is different. From what I'm reading, it's almost unprecedented for an NBA team to give money in its own name to a presidential candidate.

[Ducklett]

Didn't the team also give money to Mayor Buddy Dyer? He wasn't at all on the "right" of anything. How is this even a story?

[SOUL]

Didn't the team also give money to Mayor Buddy Dyer? He wasn't at all on the "right" of anything. How is this even a story?

Because DeSantis made a controversial statement on slavery and our team has a bunch of Black players on it? What is so hard to understand that it's probably not in your best interest to be in the news AS A FRANCHISE DONATING MONEY and having your name attached to that? If it's just some non-controversial figure from any side, it would be "meh" as how most people felt about DeVos or most owners donations in the past.

It really isn't rocket science to figure out that there is no upside to putting your name on it as a franchise. In the end, I'm sure it won't do too much damage as long as the players are taken care of, it's just unnecessary news.

[Ducklett]

Didn't the team also give money to Mayor Buddy Dyer? He wasn't at all on the "right" of anything. How is this even a story?

Because DeSantis made a controversial statement on slavery and our team has a bunch of Black players on it? What is so hard to understand that it's probably not in your best interest to be in the news AS A FRANCHISE DONATING MONEY and having your name attached to that? If it's just some non-controversial figure from any side, it would be "meh" as how most people felt about DeVos or most owners donations in the past.

It really isn't rocket science to figure out that there is no upside to putting your name on it as a franchise. In the end, I'm sure it won't do too much damage as long as the players are taken care of, it's just unnecessary news.

Should there be a news story every time a player puts their name on a donation like this? Or a coach. We just can't seem to stop politicizing everything.

I agree with you that this was really stupid to do though.

[SOUL]

Should there be a news story every time a player puts their name on a donation like this? Or a coach. We just can't seem to stop politicizing everything.

Well, that is the thing - it usually isn't a publicized thing (or at least news worthy) because NBA owners make donations all the time - a majority to Republicans - just under their name or family. The fact that this was from the team itself is what made it newsworthy in the first place because I don't think that's happened before.. which is why I think it's so silly to do. No reason to be the first to do that no matter what party it is, but especially if the person made a controversial opinion even questioned by his own party that can affect the team (even in the smallest of ways).

[Fortune Teller]

So the Magic have released a public statement and they are already lying, claiming the donation wasn't really for his presidential campaign, but to support a "Florida governor for the continued prosperity of Central Florida." I'll bet Disney, our region's largest employer (by far), loves that line!

And by the way, the PAC was created specifically for his presidential campaign.

[basketballRob]

Don’t care. Not my money and not a direct basketball decision.

Disney pays to be a sponsor and obviously it’s all business on that front. People also hate Disney for many reasons too.

People in Florida like Desantis whether you are a fan of him or not. The results speak for themselves.

When personal affiliations start influencing basketball decisions is when to worry. You have a bigger case with Isaac and this Michigan nonsense more than who gave money to which politician.

I think it is like 50/50 that like DeSantis. You have to remember that the side that he represents wants to suppress the number of voters because if everyone voted, they would lose.

Sent from my SM-G781U using RealGM mobile app

by the vote i think more like 60/40?

Christ was a terrible candidate. I know Biden only beat Trump by 5%.

Sent from my SM-G781U using RealGM mobile app

[bigdogdylan5]

That's true, but the Devos family has plenty of businesses they could donate money from, or create a phony business solely so they can donate more money to Desantis.

So the problem is not that they donated the money but they didn’t hide it well enough? I just don’t think it’s a huge deal.

There's a diff btwn "hiding it well enough" and donating behind a sports franchise, which I've never seen before.

Like I posted earlier, most sports owners have the same politics as the Devos family, albeit not as involved as them. Donating under the team name can give us a worse connotation due to the fact that it makes it look like it reflects what our franchise values and not just the owners. Hence the Larry Nance comment. It's bad publicity.

Dude it’s Larry Nance I will be fine if he doesn’t put on a manic uniform I will be nervous when Paolo says something or WCJ. What’s hilarious is I guarantee if we out bid everyone for Larry Nance in FA he would still come here because money talks.

I think my anger about this is it’s political games by outsiders. This donation apparently happened months ago before desantis even announced his presidential run. The only reason some outlet reported it is because of the recent abhorrent school curriculum change.

[bigdogdylan5]

Should there be a news story every time a player puts their name on a donation like this? Or a coach. We just can't seem to stop politicizing everything.

Well, that is the thing - it usually isn't a publicized thing (or at least news worthy) because NBA owners make donations all the time - a majority to Republicans - just under their name or family. The fact that this was from the team itself is what made it newsworthy in the first place because I don't think that's happened before.. which is why I think it's so silly to do. No reason to be the first to do that no matter what party it is, but especially if the person made a controversial opinion even questioned by his own party that can affect the team (even in the smallest of ways).

There probably was some law reason they ran it through the magic business. Honestly there such big donors they might have maxed out all their other contributions with other businesses. Which would be hilarious. Idk this isn’t new info its always happening is kinda hilarious Betsey (worst seceretary of education maybe ever) was given the position because they were such big donors.

[fendilim]

As an entity that operates in Orlando, it makes sense to support whatever the government and its majority is supporting.

Florida is republican, desantis holds his position in florida.

It wouldnt make sense for devos to use their name because they are based in Michigan.

[Bensational]

Publicly donating to a politician who’s attacking your corporate sponsor is strangely hostile to your own bottom dollar. Unless the DeVos family are confident they can attract other sponsors for the team, which wouldn’t be too hard I don’t think.

[FFBlitzace]

The only reason corporations like Disney play the woke game in the first place is because they think it will be good business. If they have existing business agreements they can quietly profit from (like sponsorship Orlando's pro basketball team), they're not going to care. So that part of it is a non issue, really.

SOUL, I agree that it's unwise, simply because there's really no profit in this, and they should be fully aware that mainstream media will jump at any opportunity to demonize anything remotely related to DeSantis, who is the DNC's Public Enemy #1b right now behind only the great boogeyman Trump himself. So in that regard, I do think it was unnecessary and stupid. But ultimately I still stand behind my previous statement.

[BadMofoPimp]

I don't see the big deal in this. Organizations donate to both parties and their candidates all the time. I bet they donated a great deal more to the Democrats in this upcoming election.

[fendilim]

The only reason corporations like Disney play the woke game in the first place is because they think it will be good business. If they have existing business agreements they can quietly profit from (like sponsorship Orlando's pro basketball team), they're not going to care. So that part of it is a non issue, really.

SOUL, I agree that it's unwise, simply because there's really no profit in this, and they should be fully aware that mainstream media will jump at any opportunity to demonize anything remotely related to DeSantis, who is the DNC's Public Enemy #1b right now behind only the great boogeyman Trump himself. So in that regard, I do think it was unnecessary and stupid. But ultimately I still stand behind my previous statement.

people bend their principles when it benefits them.

Its like continuing to buy from amazon despite its tax avoidances and harsh working conditions. Lol

[fendilim]

I don't see the big deal in this. Organizations donate to both parties and their candidates all the time. I bet they donated a great deal more to the Democrats in this upcoming election.

Yup. This is normal.

The DeVos family has donated primarily to Republican candidates and causes. However, they have also donated to some Democratic candidates, albeit in much smaller amounts. For example, Betsy DeVos donated $8,000 to 16 Democratic politicians in Colorado, Florida, and Wisconsin. And in 2020, six members of the DeVos family gave a total of $800,000 to a super PAC focused on unseating Democratic U.S. Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan.

Overall, the DeVos family's political donations are overwhelmingly to Republicans. However, they have shown a willingness to support some Democratic candidates in the past. It is possible that they may continue to do so in the future, but it is unlikely that they will become major donors to the Democratic Party.

[thelead]

Didn't expect to see it in my feed:

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