National sporting leagues and their teams could soon be crying poor if a plan to ban one of their major sponsors goes ahead in NSW.
Greens MP Sue Higginson has flagged she will introduce a bill to parliament to prevent fossil-fuel companies from advertising, similar to the ban on tobacco companies.
Her plan would include a ban on sporting sponsorships, in a bid to combat "greenwashing", where companies claim environmental credentials they don't necessarily have.
"It's wrong that these companies that are causing so much damage and who are behind the terrible climate disasters we're now continually facing are able to run public advertising campaigns showing wind turbines and solar panels, or to have their names on the uniforms of our children's sports teams," Ms Higginson said on Tuesday.
She says public health concerns should motivate the ban because climate change is "the biggest public health crisis we're facing".
The controversial move could struggle to make it through parliament, but it's not without precedent.
NSW rugby league teams used to fight all season for a trophy that shared its name with a cigarette, and a different manufacturer of the practically forbidden but nonetheless legal vice was a long-term sponsor of Cricket Australia's predecessor.
The NRL and its chair Peter V'landys have proven adept at extracting funds from the NSW government in recent years with threats to move its grand final interstate, and any bill targeting its main sponsor, Ampol, risks further drawing their ire.
There will be no advantage for the rival rugby code, with the Wallabies being sponsored by gas giant Santos.
The AFL has Shell as an official partner, the Super Netball league has Origin Energy, while Cricket Australia says its principal partnership with Alinta Energy is "one of the most visible sponsorships in Australian sport".
The City of Sydney Council, considered one of the most valuable outdoor advertising markets in the country, recently passed a motion banning fossil-fuel advertising.
The Sydney Cricket Ground and the recently rebuilt Sydney Football Stadium are both located within that council's borders, but are owned by an agency of the NSW government, which hasn't banned the ads yet.
