Balgarianovinite.com
The sponsors of Wednesday’s annual Congressional Baseball Game include the second- and third-biggest lobbying firms by revenue, three of the top four spenders on lobbying, and two companies that recently have drawn unwanted attention from members of Congress.
The contest pits Republicans versus Democrats with proceeds going to charities, but the winners also include Washington’s heavyweight lobbying firms, trade associations and corporations that spent as little as $1,000 or as much as $100,000 to put their names before the lawmakers and staff members who handle their issues, and even more to hold receptions at Nationals Park.
The event is staged each year to raise money for charities such as the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington, but it also provides an opportunity for company officials and lobbyists to hobnob with lawmakers and their staffs who oversee their industries and clients. They can watch the game from the stands or from suites with their invited guests.
“This is what we call a giant schmoozefest,” said Craig Holman, who lobbies on campaign finance and lobbying issues for Public Citizen.
The National Association of Realtors, which spent $15.5 million to lobby from January to March – second only to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce – will have a presence at the ballpark. So will the Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America, the third-biggest lobbying spender so far this year with $12.3 million, and the fourth-biggest, General Motors ($11.4 million). Ford and Toyota also will be visible during the game.
The lobbying firm BGR Group, whose clients include Bayer, BP and Delta Air Lines, will be there too. The firm took in $20.8 million in revenue during the first three months of the year, second only to Ballard Partners, whose founder, Brian Ballard, has close ties to the Trump administration.
Also present will be the No. 3 lobbying firm by revenue, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, which took in $20.3 million in revenue this year through the end of March. Its clients include Duke Energy, FedEx Corp. and Paramount Skydance, the parent company of CBS.
Fox Sports’ FS1 cable channel will broadcast the game live. Its parent, Fox Corp., spent $1.2 million on lobbying during the first three months of the year.
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Besides Fox, Comcast (owner of NBC) and the Walt Disney Co. (owner of ABC), are among the donors to the event.
“This is just the perfect opportunity for influence peddling,” Holman said. “Corporations can buy reams of seats and they allow their lobbyists to go and actually do all the schmoozing.”
Fox is one of the nine largest contributors, according to the event’s website. Others include Aflac, Google and Visa.
They spent a combined $15.5 million from January to March trying to influence Congress and the executive branch.
“Almost everyone’s going to be represented there, from the lawmakers to their staff,” Holman said. “Every corporation that is spending money to try to influence Congress is probably going to be represented there as well.”
The businesses that donate $100,000 get to participate in pre-game ceremonies, take pictures on the field with executives and guests, take over a stadium suite for their own party, attend a private reception and a breakfast, set up a table on the plaza where the fans enter the ballpark and hand out branded materials. They may also display company ads on the scoreboard between innings, and put their logo on the scoreboard, on the event website and in the printed gameday program.
One of the $50,000 donors is Kalshi, a federally regulated exchange that allows bets on the outcome of future events. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) last month announced an investigation of charges of insider trading on Kalshi and another prediction market platform, Polymarket. Comer expressed concern that their account holders are “using nonpublic information to engage in insider training.”
During the game, Kalshi’s logo will appear on the scoreboards and in the program. It’s already on the website of the Congressional Baseball Game for Charity. The company will be able to air a commercial on the scoreboard between innings, set up a table on the plaza where ticket holders enter Nationals Park to hand out giveaways, attend non-public receptions and get tickets to the game itself.
“Kalshi is proud to support the Congressional Baseball Game, a longstanding bipartisan tradition that raises millions of dollars each year for children and families across the D.C. metro area,” spokeswoman Jacki McGavick said.
Kalshi spent $490,000 to lobby during the first three months of 2026.
Live Nation Entertainment, the concert booking agency, contributed at the $25,000 level, which offers similar perks. Congressional Democrats last month held a forum on Live Nation and its subsidiary Ticketmaster, which sells tickets to those concerts. The company spent $340,000 on lobbying from January to March.
Under President Joe Biden, the U.S Justice Department sued the companies on antitrust grounds, but the agency under President Donald Trump quickly reached a much-criticized settlement without waiting for a verdict.
More than 30 state attorneys general, who brought their own antitrust suit and won, are seeking to have the company broken up.
Live Nation did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Several institutions of higher education also are among the donors, including the University of Tennessee ($25,000 level), State University of New York ($10,000) and the Texas A&M University system ($2,500).
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