CounterPunch Exclusives

CounterPunch Exclusives

Protesting Big Oil and Sportswashing 

Photograph by Nathaniel St. Clair

Climate activists are calling out pro sports teams across the U.S. Why? The answer is the teams’ sportswashing partnerships with Big Oil. According to activists, sportswashing uses fans’ fondness for their pro teams to fog the lethal consequences of fossil fuel sponsorships with Big Oil, e.g., BP America, Phillips 66 and Shell.

Call it a planet-destroying impact of the athletic-industrial complex.

The national action for sustainable humanity on Planet Earth is an outgrowth of the Sierra Club chapter of the Los Angeles’ Dodger Fans Against Fossil Fuels campaign demanding the team’s owners to drop their sponsorship deal with oil giant Phillips 66. Boo on Dodger Blue for that deal. Meanwhile, the climate dissent that began in LA didn’t stay there.

Simultaneous anti-sportswashing actions unfolded across 10 U.S. cities on February 17. Check it out.

Los Angeles, Dodger Stadium, Dodgers (Phillips 66/76 gas) San Francisco, Oracle Park, Giants (Phillips 66/76 gas) Sacramento, Golden 1 Center, Sacramento Kings (AM/PM, owned by BP) Portland, Providence Park, Portland Timbers (Bank of America) St. Louis, Busch Stadium, St. Louis Cardinals (Phillips 66) Atlanta, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, FIFA World Cup (Aramco) Cleveland, Progressive........

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