From Miriam Adelson, whose family is the largest shareholder in the Dallas Mavericks, to the Glazers, owners of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Manchester United. Several sports moguls finance Donald Trump’s Ballroom in the White House. Public image and personal interest. Sport shakes hands with power. Based on millions.
The White House published a list of the sponsors of the new and controversial Ballroom, an 8,000 square meter structure valued at $300 million. It has 37 donors, including large companies and private families. Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, oil magnates… but also soccer, basketball and American football.
This is the case of Miriam Adelson, widow of casino magnate Sheldon Adelson (died in 2021), who acquired the majority of the shares of the Dallas Mavericks in 2023 from Mark Cuban.
Cuban, who continues to maintain control of the Dallas Mavericks’ basketball operations, is not part of this donation.
Miriam Adelson and her family have supported the Republican Party and Trump for years and the current president of the United States awarded the businesswoman the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2018.
Another businesswoman linked to basketball gave her contribution to the Ballroom, which Trump plans to name the “President Donald J. Trump Ballroom.” This is Kelly Loeffler, administrator of the Federal Small Business Administration (SBA) and former senator from Georgia, who owned the Atlanta Dream of the WNBA until 2021.
An important financial contribution will also come from the Glazer family, owner of the NFL Buccaneers since 1995 and Manchester United since 2005, as well as Woody Johnson, owner of the New York Jets.
Read more: Most Americans are upset by Trump’s demolition of the White House East Wing, poll finds
Demolition of the East Wing of the White House sustains criticism
Public image, visibility, potential tax advantages, proximity to the president of the United States, privileged access to events at the White House and commercial interest are some of the benefits that a donation for this type of project brings to donors.
At a recent dinner with sponsors, Trump said, “This is the price of having access to the president.”
Controversies over the demolition of the East Wing of the White House, built in 1902, during the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt, to visually balance the West Wing, where the Oval Office is located.
Under Franklin D. Roosevelt, the structure, initially two stories, was expanded in 1942 with the addition of an underground bunker.
For decades, the East Wing was used as a formal entrance for official visits, a space for social events, the headquarters of the first ladies’ office, a function that began with Eleanor Roosevelt, and where the movie theater used by the presidential family was located.
For all these reasons, the demolition of the East Wing was received by many critics in the United States, among them those of the New York Times, which recently dedicated an obituary to it.
With information from EFE
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