Orlando Magic Gave $50,000 to Never Back Down

[Fortune Teller]

The Orlando Magic gave $50,000 to "Never Back Down," the Super Pac carrying Ron DeSantis' campaign for president.

With DeSantis making national headlines for changing Florida's social studies curriculum to include lessons on the benefits of slavery to enslaved people, I'm sure the players love this. I'm sure this will also help with prospective free agents.

The DeVos family can give money to whomever they want, and their world-view is well-documented. But why do they have to put the team's name on this? Even other republicans are appalled by what DeSantis is doing in this state. But not our owners, the family that built their fortune on a shady pyramid scheme.

[Fortune Teller]

Not to mention the Magic's biggest corporate sponsor is Disney, and DeSantis is literally trying to drive them out of Florida despite being our region's largest employer. I wonder what Disney thinks of this news?

https://news.yahoo.com/orlando-magic-nba-team-sponsored-191046179.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAFeqeKr8f6C59IdDKPd-5pqd_casTOLdcxPZaC3WBDBjcatwgKxSbOIg7EgW4KpPhjmRuQsfO3Gd-VPuu1ApSolnqoZEq4aPUwgO2qnDD5bDHsesRMEJKjw6zrC_7Qk3Ta2jhi3Nh5qi7v5-oV4Yw_X4g57L8YJYpOcluBk-6hf_

[thelead]

Honestly, it doesn’t matter. This will get locked anyway. I despise the religious political machine but I also despise the hypocritical liberal machine. It’s all the same ish. Cult like personalities forcing their BS onto others. Just leave me and my kids the F alone. That’s what I, and I bet a majority of Americans, care about.

Also, I find ‘go woke, go broke’ incredibly ironic from the supposedly ‘anti-cancel culture’ party. It’s all a ish show in this country.

Finally, to get more on topic, there should be outrage regarding money in politics in this country. It corrupts nearly everything. I believe it’s the single most important fix to our democracy and very few talk about it.

[bigdogdylan5]

Honestly, it doesn’t matter. This will get locked anyway. I despise the religious political machine but I also despise the hypocritical liberal machine. It’s all the same ish. Cult like personalities forcing their BS onto others. Just leave me and my kids the F alone. That’s what I, and I bet a majority of Americans, care about.

Also, I find ‘go woke, go broke’ incredibly ironic from the supposedly ‘anti-cancel culture’ party. It’s all a ish show in this country.

Finally, to get more on topic, there should be outrage regarding money in politics in this country. It corrupts nearly everything. I believe it’s the single most important fix to our democracy and very few talk about it.

And 1,000,000. Go woke go broke and forget the company your are trying to punish has a decent position in your state pension fund. Just can’t make this **** up.

[fendilim]

Very charitable. Good job.

Very philanthropic.

Better than not giving anything.

Sharing is caring.

[thelead]

Honestly, it doesn’t matter. This will get locked anyway. I despise the religious political machine but I also despise the hypocritical liberal machine. It’s all the same ish. Cult like personalities forcing their BS onto others. Just leave me and my kids the F alone. That’s what I, and I bet a majority of Americans, care about.

Also, I find ‘go woke, go broke’ incredibly ironic from the supposedly ‘anti-cancel culture’ party. It’s all a ish show in this country.

Finally, to get more on topic, there should be outrage regarding money in politics in this country. It corrupts nearly everything. I believe it’s the single most important fix to our democracy and very few talk about it.

And 1,000,000. Go woke go broke and forget the company your are trying to punish has a decent position in your state pension fund. Just can’t make this **** up.

And then turn around and sue the company for the declining stock price That Megyn Kelly/Desantis interview was nuts

[Def Swami]

Let's keep the personal feelings about the parties involved as out of this as possible. I do think this is somewhat relevant to the basketball team. And there's a mature conversation we can have about a professional sports team donating to a political party/entity. So let's try to keep this there.

The DeVos families political leanings have been well known. Regardless of my own political beliefs, I never cared about who or what the team owners were donating to. It's their money and they have the right to do what they want with it.

However, sending a donation on behalf of the team is unique, different, and unusual. I just don't believe it's smart business to have the team donate to any political party or entity. And I'm not sure I really understand why they decided to use the Magic to do this. Perhaps there's a tax advantage reason that I'm not aware of. But it shows a lack of awareness in terms of running a sports team in 2023. The league is 90% black. A lot of those players don't stand for what the superPAC does. I imagine a lot of our players and coaches don't stand for it (Jonathan Isaac is the only player who we can actually probably guess where he stands, ironically ). I don't think players are going to 100% rule out playing for the Magic because of this, but they will think about it. I can't imagine Jeff Weltman, Anthony Parker, or Jamahl Mosely are thrilled about this. And I'm sure they're not looking forward to answering questions about it on Media Day.

Fans will indeed think about it. Orange County is still a blue county at its core. Even in the reddest of red landslides, the county remained blue. So it just seems like bad business from a branding standpoint to your own residents who you're trying to recruit. I would believe the same if there were a team located in a red county that donated the opposing political party/entity. Why introduce those variables into the business?

All of this probably won't mean anything in the long run. It'll be out of sight and out of mind. Fans and players will mostly move on. But, it did seem like a weird and unnecessary decision that is probably fraught with more risk than benefit to the franchise.

[UCFJayBird]

If this spirals into personal insults this will be shutdown immediately. keep it civil and the discussion related to the basketball organization. There's an entire politics forum if you want to discuss the issues in more depth there.

[VFX]

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.

[davey_wavy]

The Devos have donated to both Red and Blue PACs in the past. Just business as usual.

[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.

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[Kent]

It's the optics that are weird.

No matter your political leanings, I would think it's not worth the headache and attention that the team has created for themselves with this.

If there was a tax or business reason for doing it, like Def Swami postulated, I can't imagine it to be worth it.

But what do I know?

[basketballRob]

The Magic also have received tax money and special permits to build. So, they are in a way using other people's tax money to donate to a political campaign.

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[ogmagicfan]

Donating under the team name is ridiculous, idgaf who they're donating to.

Everyone who knows the Devos family are very aware that the Devos' family are far right. This has never been hidden.

The fact they randomly feel compelled to donate under the Magic franchise name after 35 yrs of donating under their own personal name/PACs is inexplicable. All I see this doing is making it harder for the Magic to attract free agents/trade targets.

It makes zero sense. I just hope they sell the franchise at this point because from a business aspect it's stupid af

[basketballRob]

Donating under the team name is ridiculous, idgaf who they're donating to.

Everyone who knows the Devos family are very aware that the Devos' family are far right. This has never been hidden.

The fact they randomly feel compelled to donate under the Magic franchise name after 35 yrs of donating under their own personal name/PACs is inexplicable. All I see this doing is making it harder for the Magic to attract free agents/trade targets.

It makes zero sense. I just hope they sell the franchise at this point because from a business aspect it's stupid af

Now, when the NBA cracks down on the Devos family, DeSantis can go after the NBA and give himself more exposure.

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[ogmagicfan]

Donating under the team name is ridiculous, idgaf who they're donating to.

Everyone who knows the Devos family are very aware that the Devos' family are far right. This has never been hidden.

The fact they randomly feel compelled to donate under the Magic franchise name after 35 yrs of donating under their own personal name/PACs is inexplicable. All I see this doing is making it harder for the Magic to attract free agents/trade targets.

It makes zero sense. I just hope they sell the franchise at this point because from a business aspect it's stupid af

Now, when the NBA cracks down on the Devos family, DeSantis can go after the NBA and give himself more exposure.

Sent from my SM-G781U using RealGM mobile app

Unless it's not allowed for NBA Franchises to donate to political campaigns (which it might be, wouldnt be surprised), I wouldn't expect anything except the NBA advising the Devos family to not donate in the franchise's name, and/or changing the rules so it's not allowed anymore

It's just so f****** idiotic. I wouldn't care as much if they did it in 2017 when we were a treadmil team and weren't gonna win anything anyways, but doing it when we been irrelevant for 10+ yrs and finally are on the upswing, shows that owning the Magic franchise is nothing more than a joke to them at this point

[tiderulz]

Let's keep the personal feelings about the parties involved as out of this as possible. I do think this is somewhat relevant to the basketball team. And there's a mature conversation we can have about a professional sports team donating to a political party/entity. So let's try to keep this there.

The DeVos families political leanings have been well known. Regardless of my own political beliefs, I never cared about who or what the team owners were donating to. It's their money and they have the right to do what they want with it.

However, sending a donation on behalf of the team is unique, different, and unusual. I just don't believe it's smart business to have the team donate to any political party or entity. And I'm not sure I really understand why they decided to use the Magic to do this. Perhaps there's a tax advantage reason that I'm not aware of. But it shows a lack of awareness in terms of running a sports team in 2023. The league is 90% black. A lot of those players don't stand for what the superPAC does. I imagine a lot of our players and coaches don't stand for it (Jonathan Isaac is the only player who we can actually probably guess where he stands, ironically ). I don't think players are going to 100% rule out playing for the Magic because of this, but they will think about it. I can't imagine Jeff Weltman, Anthony Parker, or Jamahl Mosely are thrilled about this. And I'm sure they're not looking forward to answering questions about it on Media Day.

Fans will indeed think about it. Orange County is still a blue county at its core. Even in the reddest of red landslides, the county remained blue. So it just seems like bad business from a branding standpoint to your own residents who you're trying to recruit. I would believe the same if there were a team located in a red county that donated the opposing political party/entity. Why introduce those variables into the business?

All of this probably won't mean anything in the long run. It'll be out of sight and out of mind. Fans and players will mostly move on. But, it did seem like a weird and unnecessary decision that is probably fraught with more risk than benefit to the franchise.

owners dont care. look at owners like Sterling, Sarver. and they know there is a limited number of positions available, players will play where there is money. like the NFL, they owners dont use their teams to make money (a few exceptions) they made their money somewhere else. so they treat the teams like toys.

[VFX]

Donating under the team name is ridiculous, idgaf who they're donating to.

Everyone who knows the Devos family are very aware that the Devos' family are far right. This has never been hidden.

The fact they randomly feel compelled to donate under the Magic franchise name after 35 yrs of donating under their own personal name/PACs is inexplicable. All I see this doing is making it harder for the Magic to attract free agents/trade targets.

It makes zero sense. I just hope they sell the franchise at this point because from a business aspect it's stupid af

Now, when the NBA cracks down on the Devos family, DeSantis can go after the NBA and give himself more exposure.

Sent from my SM-G781U using RealGM mobile app

Unless it's not allowed for NBA Franchises to donate to political campaigns (which it might be, wouldnt be surprised), I wouldn't expect anything except the NBA advising the Devos family to not donate in the franchise's name, and/or changing the rules so it's not allowed anymore

It's just so f****** idiotic. I wouldn't care as much if they did it in 2017 when we were a treadmil team and weren't gonna win anything anyways, but doing it when we been irrelevant for 10+ yrs and finally are on the upswing, shows that owning the Magic franchise is nothing more than a joke to them at this point

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

[FFBlitzace]

I'm not saying anybody has to like DeSantis or any figure or policy in politics, but it sounds like you're getting your news from extremely partisan sources.

As it relates to basketball and our ownership, I will repeat what I said recently when members of this board started going in on the Devos family. Players have always spoken highly of them, and our organization. On the court, it has been mostly a disaster post-Dwight. There has been plenty of incompetence on the basketball side of things. But the Magic have remained a class organization and the Devos family are very far from being the worst owners in the NBA. The occasional attempt at creating a narrative painting them as evil bigots who make the Magic an undesirable organization just isn't rooted in reality.

[basketballRob]

Now, when the NBA cracks down on the Devos family, DeSantis can go after the NBA and give himself more exposure.

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Unless it's not allowed for NBA Franchises to donate to political campaigns (which it might be, wouldnt be surprised), I wouldn't expect anything except the NBA advising the Devos family to not donate in the franchise's name, and/or changing the rules so it's not allowed anymore

It's just so f****** idiotic. I wouldn't care as much if they did it in 2017 when we were a treadmil team and weren't gonna win anything anyways, but doing it when we been irrelevant for 10+ yrs and finally are on the upswing, shows that owning the Magic franchise is nothing more than a joke to them at this point

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

They shouldn't give to any political campaigns.

The NAACP issued a travel advisory for people of color, not to come to Florida because of DeSantis' policies that give them the right to stop and ID people of color to check if they're illegal immigrants. So it's probably worse in that aspect.

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