As Los Angeles prepares to host the World Cup and Olympic Games, Fossil Free Football volunteer Zach Lubin joined LA’s first protest against fossil fuel sports sponsorship. As the Los Angeles Dodgers, reigning champions of Major League Baseball (MLB), opened their season, the Sierra Club Angeles Chapter, Third Act, and Dodger Fans Against Fossil Fuels (DF3) demanded an end to the club’s sponsor deal with oil giant Phillips 66’s gas station chain. DF3 founder Zan Dubin launched a petition last year calling on Dodgers owner Mark Walter to cut ties with fossil fuels which has garnered more than 28,000 signatures. The group is calling on tennis star Billie Jean King and NBA legend Earvin “Magic” Johnson, both outspoken on the topic of climate action and minority owners in the Dodgers, to push for alternative sponsors. 

The protest also sends a clear message that fossil fuel sponsorship will not be welcome when the city hosts the world’s two biggest sporting events in coming years, as Zan Dubin stressed in her message to media. It was the first in-person resistance to Saudi Aramco’s sponsorship of the 2026 World Cup, hosted in Los Angeles and 15 other cities. 

Campaigners are calling for Los Angeles to seize the occasion of its hosting of the World Cup and Olympics to demonstrate a clear departure from fossil fuel sponsorship in sport.

The campaign against fossil fuel sponsorship in Los Angeles carries extra weight because  climate change fuelled wildfires tore through the city earlier this year. California Governor Gavin Newsom recently announced that Dodgers-owner Mark Walter and “Magic” Johnson Walter will lead an initiative focused on responding to this disaster. But the campaigners accuse the Dodgers of ‘sportswashing’ as they broadcast their support for relief and recovery efforts, but continue to promote oil and gas company Phillips 66.. In 2024, the company was also indicted by a federal grand jury on six counts of violating the Clean Water Act in knowingly dumping oil and grease into the LA county sewer system.

Speaking from LA, Zach Lubin said “it was really exciting to join such an important campaign in my home city. Not only was it inspiring to chat with like-minded individuals, but you could see the significant impact of the movement first hand. As a huge sports fan, I couldn’t be more excited to have so many major events coming to LA, but we need to take the opportunity to eliminate these fossil fuel sponsorships from ruining the sports we love. The world is watching, let LA lead the way!”