"Fossil fuel sponsorships are just one example of rampant “sportswashing”"

"As New Orleans readies to host Super Bowl LIX this Sunday, a volunteer ambassador program has been working to help welcome the hundreds of thousands of football fans streaming into the Big Easy. Who is sponsoring that program? Chevron, one of the world’s biggest oil and gas producers and a top climate polluter.

Chevron is not the only fossil fuel company assisting New Orleans in hosting the big game. In August 2023, Entergy, an energy utility company and active player in the oil and gas business, announced that it would be a founding partner of the 2025 Super Bowl Host Committee.

Fossil fuel industry sponsorships are common in professional sports. A September 2024 analysis from the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at UCLA Law School found more than 60 such sponsorship deals across six pro sports leagues. The study, based on sponsorships reported by SportsPro Media’s Commercial Guides, examined deals with Big Oil firms and energy utilities that own fossil fuel assets or supply fossil gas to consumers. It is not meant to be comprehensive, however, and is almost certainly an undercount of the number of industry sponsorships in American sports, according to Emmett Institute’s communications director Evan George, who led the study."

Dana Drugmand reports for Sierra magazine February 5, 2025. [2]