By Andrew Asch
Media coverage of the campaign’s second stadium rally was roughly four times that of its first rally, held last summer. Both rallies sent this message to Dodger owners including chairman Mark Walter: Drop your sponsorship deal with oil giant Phillips 66, owner of the 76 gas-station brand whose logo is plastered all over the stadium.
“We are Dodger fans and activists, standing here, twenty minutes away from where the deadly Altadena fires raged, to step up our demand that Dodgers owners end the team’s sponsorship deal with Phillips 66 and kick Big Oil out of the park,” campaign lead Zan Dubin said at the protest.
Dubin and others, noting that the L.A. fires were worsened by climate change, contend that Phillips 66 is greenwashing by attempting to associate the passion fans feel for their beloved championship team with the polluting fossil fuels the company provides. Over a dozen articles and videos about the home-game rally were issued by The Los Angeles Times, Orange County Register, Los Angeles Daily News, Fox News, KNX News, the Daily Mail, the Eastsider and others. A Japanese media outlet is expected to publish an article soon, too.The LA Daily News quoted campaign supporter Carlos Morales, a Dodger fan from Azusa, who noted in a protest media alert that Phillips 66 was criminally indicted last fall for allegedly violating the Clean Water Act by dumping wastewater into the local sewer system from its Carson facility.
“The Dodgers shouldn’t be putting a pretty face on any polluter,” Morales said, “especially one that’s facing a six-count felony indictment for allegedly putting LA County’s environment and water treatment system at risk of great potential harm. Dropping the Phillips 66 sponsorship would tell the world that Los Angeles and its beloved championship baseball team want a healthy, sustainable future for us all.”
Dodger Fans Against Fossil Fuels, a.k.a. DF3, launched in July 2024 with an Open Letter to Walter that’s now been signed by more than 28,000 people. The campaign is hosted and sponsored by Sierra Club Angeles Chapter, but Third Act SoCal members showed up to both protests in force.
“You’d be hard-pressed to find any more rabid Dodger fans than those in the Hispanic community in Los Angeles,” Third Act SoCal member Monica Sena said at the rally. “But who suffers the most from air pollution caused by Big Oil? The marginalized communities, the Hispanic community and the Black community. We support [the Dodgers]. We’d like the Dodgers to support us by getting rid of Phillips 66 and the air and water pollution of Big Oil products.”
Jordan Howard, an entrepreneur, strategist, and founder of Shftspace who grew up in South Los Angeles, said people of color living near oil refineries in El Segundo and Wilmington are being sickened by the refineries’ polluting emissions.
“It’s time for the Dodgers to be a leader,” Howard said. “Why not be the ones to say ‘no’ to oil? Why not be the ones to say ‘yes, we are going to protect our fans. Our fans deserve to be protected.’ The people of this city deserve to be protected.”
David Haake, co-chair of Sierra Club Angeles Chapter’s Clean Break Team, which advocates for a just transition from dirty fossil fuels, said Los Angeles is weaning itself off oil: California and Los Angeles lead America in EV adoption and about a quarter of all new cars registered in the state last year were zero emission vehicles, according to the California Energy Commission. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and Los Angeles City Council have also passed laws barring the development of new oil wells.
”LA has stood up to big oil,” Haake said. “….We want a clean, just and fossil fuel-free future. It is time that the Dodgers stood with us. The people of LA have spoken. Phillips 66 is using the Dodgers to do sportswashing.”
Dubin credited the surge in media attention to excitement over the World Series-winning Dodgers’ 2025 season. DF3 also recently received a weighty endorsement from State Senate Majority Leader Sen. Lena Gonzalez (D-Long Beach), who wrote a letter of her own to Walter.
“Continuing to associate these corporations with our beloved boys in blue is not in our community or the planet’s best interest,” Gonzalez wrote. “….Ending the sponsorship with Phillips 66 would send the message that it’s time to end our embrace of polluting fossil fuels and work together towards a cleaner, greener future.”
Dubin said the group was thrilled with the surging media interest. “Still, we have no idea if the targets of our message have even received it. We haven’t heard from Dodger management, though we have sent them our petition, twice.”
DF3 plans further actions soon. Sign the petition to follow the campaign.