San Francisco Giants owner Charles Johnson is facing backlash for donating a massive sum of cash to the Republican Party after laying off more than 50 employees.
Johnson reportedly donated nearly $11 million to Republicans in all cycles between 2016 and 2020, the most of any owner in professional sports.
$10,995,500 is $219,910 when split 50 ways. The Giants just laid off 50 people.
That’s simplistic, I know. But beyond Charles Johnson, think of all the good that could be done with all the money that gets lit on fire financing political campaigns in this country. https://t.co/2bxUtOpZiR
— Andrew Baggarly (@extrabaggs) November 6, 2020
In fact, Johnson's contributions have made up for nearly a third of the contributions to Republicans, per ESPN.
This is especially resonant with Giants fans and staffers given the recent cutbacks in October.
The Giants scaled back employment and cut 50 jobs last month, citing financial losses stemming from the pandemic, per Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle:
The Giants said they were eliminating roughly 10% of their 500 full-time jobs in the business and baseball operations departments, which means about 50 layoffs. Baseball operations includes player development and scouting and has about 150 employees. The other 350 work on the business side.
Granted, San Francisco is hardly the only team to reduce employment.
A number of franchises have announced layoffs in recent weeks and months, with the Chicago Cubs cutting over 100 jobs.
The purported financial losses sustained by Major League Baseball is estimated to be in the billions, as some owners and executives have said lately. In that regard, wide-scale layoffs seemed somewhat inevitable around the league.
But when looking at Johnson's overwhelming contributions, it bears wondering whether some of that money could have been better used to pay the Giants' ballpark employees. Consider all the ushers and staffers who lost their jobs early in the year, in addition to the front office workers.
Regardless, professional sports owners have frequently chosen to spend massive amounts on political campaigns, irrespective of party. That might not be changing anytime soon, especially if Johnson and the Giants are any indication.
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