Saturday, July 22, 2006

$13 Million in Corporate Money for Gay Games

Consider these financial stats: Corporate sponsors of the Gay Games spent approximately $1300 per "athlete" or between $430-650 per spectator (there is no TV audience). Sounds like a very poor business decision to me.

“[The 2006 Gay Games] would have been in the red like all the other games if it weren’t for the sponsors,” said Peter LaBarbera, executive director of Glen Ellyn-based Illinois Family Institute, a Christian-based nonprofit organization.

Michael Polzin, spokesman for Deerfield-based Walgreen Co, admitted that Walgreens may face backlash from customers who oppose this celebration of homosexuality.

(Including me - I've moved my prescription business elsewhere, even though the new store is less convenient. I did so because they fired pharmacists who could not in clear conscience dispense abortifacients - when they should have defended their employees religious freedom - and because of their sponsorship of the Gay Games.)

More on this story here.