Billionaires do not give money. Not proportionate to their income.

Across the four major professional sports leagues (NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL) there are 124 teams. That means there are 124 owners or ownership groups. I am aware that some overlap with teams in multiple leagues. Regardless, let’s just keep it at 124 ownership groups. My guess is that most, if not all, are billionaires.

If each team ownership group gave $10M then they could fund relief efforts for the recent losses because of Hurricane Helene. They could probably start a trust fund for relief efforts and fund it each year with a $10M donation from each professional team, with maybe additional money donated from the leagues themselves.

But let’s start with the first premise. 124 teams donating $10M would equal $1.24B. $10M is not much of a dent in their portfolio. $10M is 1% of a billion dollars. That’s probably the equivalent of me spending $20 on a meal, or donating $50 myself.

I say this because as I have the game on I see in the scroll that this owner’s trust gave $1M to relief efforts. I suppose I’m supposed to be impressed?

Wow, the owner of the Atlanta Falcons gave $1.5M to relief efforts. We need to setup a parade because they took the effort to scrape up all the loose change lying around their multiple mansions and gave it to the victims.

I don’t hold any animosity towards the rich because they are rich. But don’t expect me to be impressed with a $1M donation. They earn that in interest in less than a week. They don’t give their money away willingly. The reason they give money away and announce it is purely for their public image. And the tax benefit is not bad either.

Instead, the NFL broadcasts are soliciting money from the audience, people who are buying NFL merchandise and tickets. Why not donate all proceeds from one week of games?

Please spare me the notion that the uber rich care about the people who make them rich.