Sidebar

Exclusive Reports

29
Fri, Mar

US Election : NBA Arenas To Be Converted To Polling Stations

Exclusives
Typography
  • Smaller Small Medium Big Bigger
  • Default Helvetica Segoe Georgia Times

National Basketball Association (NBA) playoff games will resume on Saturday three days after some teams and players initiated a strike by staying in their locker rooms as a protest to the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

As games tend to resume, the players have requested for a commitment from the league to social justice measures including the conversion of stadiums into polling places in the 2020 presidential election.

In a joint statement released by the executive director of NBA Michele Roberts and NBA commissioner, Adam Silver, the association plans to further their “collective efforts and actions in support of social justice and racial equality.” The NBA commissioner said that talks involving players, coaches and team officials had been “candid, impassioned and productive”.

The NBA concluded by adding that in cities where teams own their arenas, the clubs and election officials will collaborate to enable people to vote in the 2020 general election. The league and the players union said the move would allow for “safe in-person voting” for communities at risk of Covid-19.

Earlier in the week, President Donald Trump said that the NBA had become like “a political organization.” The President added “I think what they’re doing to the NBA, in particular, is going to destroy basketball. It’s very bad for the NBA and it’s going to prove to be very bad for [American] football.”

BLOG COMMENTS POWERED BY DISQUS