There are growing calls to focus the protests against the Arizona racial profiling law on the Arizona Diamondbacks baseball team. The rationale focuses on four key points: (1) the owners of the Diamondbacks are reportedly major donors to the Republicans responsible for the law; (2) the percentage of Hispanic players in Major League Baseball now exceeds 27%; (3) the Diamondbacks travel frequently, allowing focused protests in different communities around the USA; and (4) baseball has a significant impact upon the Arizona economy.
Let's hit them in the wallet.
More below the fold...
The ownership group of the Diamondbacks is Ken Kendrick, Jeff Royer and Mike Chipman. The Kendrick family appears to be a major donor to Republican causes, with reports of over $60,000 in each of the past two years to the National Republican Senatorial Committee. I have not tracked down the Arizona donations, but I suspect they have been similarly dedicated to the officials responsible for the profiling law. In addition, the Kendrick's business Datatel also appears to be a backer.
The sport of baseball is increasingly dependent upon the star power of Hispanic players. According to the 2009 Racial and Gender Report Card for MLB, produced by the report card from the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida (http://web.bus.ucf.edu/sportbusiness/?page=1445), 27% of all players were Hispanic. Many of these players are amongst the highest profile sports stars in North America, providing an important means to capture attention with boycotts.
It can be difficult to sustain protests for extended periods in any one location. Traveling protests offer the chance to capture new media attention in each region, thus a boycott that moves with the Diamondbacks could have stamina to keep the pressure on Arizona. Over the next ~month the team plays in Chicago, Houston, Atlanta, Miami, Denver and San Francisco. Many of these cities could offer outstanding venues for protests. It may be possible to deplete the stadiums of fans, creating an impressive visual impact on national television (and pressure from MLB on Arizona).
Going forward, the protests could extend to Spring Training if the law has not been eliminated by that time. The economic impact of Spring Training in Arizona is driven by tourism (http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/columnist/thorne/2009-02-24-thorne-column_N.htm). In short, the host cities spend more on providing facilities than they make back from the teams in rent and gate revenues. The real money comes from outside visitors to the region staying in hotels, eating in restaurants, etc. I could not find specific economic numbers (I only looked superficially), but Florida projects ~$500 million of economic impact for the Grapefruit League - indicating that the Cactus League in Arizona could be contributing hundreds of millions to Arizona economy.