Football legend John Elway has found himself a new hobby: lobbying against a midterm ballot measure that could significantly limit oil and gas development in Colorado. Elway has found himself squared up across from Google co-founder Sergey Brin, whose foundation has publicly offered support for the measure, called Proposition 112.

Proposition 112 specifically requires that new drilling sites, plants and other oil and gas specific properties be located at least 2,500 feet away from houses, schools and other "vulnerable areas". The result of proposition 112 passing would be roughly 54% less state land accessible to producers for new oil and gas development, according to an article by Bloomberg.

SunTrust told Bloomberg that “Polling continues to move in the industry’s direction, with generally ‘yes’ in the low 40s and ‘no’ in the high 40s. Some recent polls seem to be even better, presumably due to the ‘Elway bump’”. Elway has appeared in advertisements urging people to vote "no".

Democrats in the state, like Colorado House Majority Leader KC Becker, have stated that the oil and gas industry’s capital resources are too overwhelming to face down. The industry has reportedly put more than $30 million into a campaign to defeat the measure. Those who are for proposition 112 have reportedly raised just $700,000. Ballotpedia shows this imbalance at $19.3 million versus just $1.4 million. 

Over the crucial period Of October 11 through October 24, backers of the proposition raised $368,000, only $177,000 of which was in cash. Google co-founder Brin’s foundation donated just $170,000 of "in-kind" digital media to support the measure.

SunTrust Robinson Humphrey analyst Welles Fitzpatrick said in a recent note: “There has been no other contribution from the foundation, so it is hard to know the real dedication. It’s a little odd, in our opinion, for a large money donor to come in this late with an ‘in kind’ donation, especially from a billionaire with the type of pocketbook that could trump even the industry.”

Despite the mismatch in contributions, Credit Suisse reportedly still sees the outcome as a close call.

Analyst Betty Jiang recently said to clients in a note that: "While Election Day’s outcome is ultimately binary, even #112’s defeat could support perception of continued regulatory overhang."