By Arthur L. Caplan & Lee H. Igel
The Miami Heat and the Boston Celtics kneel during the National Anthem wearing VOTE shirts in Game … [+]
Later this year, voters in the United States will be casting ballots to elect candidates to all 435 seats in the House of Representatives, more than thirty seats in the Senate, and nearly forty governors. The outcome of the midterm elections, given the country’s political divisions, will be hugely consequential. So much so, in fact, that organizations which usually stay away from politics are getting involved. The National Basketball Association is prominent among them.
On November 7, the night before Election Day, games featuring all thirty NBA teams will be played in arenas across the country. Many of those venues will then be quickly converted to serve as polling stations beginning early the next morning. There will be no games played on November 8. Between now and then, the league and its teams will be sharing election-related information with fans, players, staff, the media and the public.
The NBA says it is trying to raise voter awareness, encourage civic engagement, and increase voter participation. But is the NBA overreaching here?
In the minds of some people—such as those who agree with Fox News host Laura Ingraham’s 2018 take that basketball players like LeBron James and Kevin Durant should “keep the political commentary to themselves” and “shut up and dribble,” which she told her program’s audience after the two criticized then-President Donald Trump—the answer is undoubtedly “yes.” But the NBA is having none of that. It is making it clear that it believes it must do more for its communities than just dribble.
The NBA enterprise generates about $9-billion each year. The most valuable of its 30 franchises is estimated to be worth about $6-billion and its least-valuable about $1.5-billion. The league’s ranks include some of the planet’s most recognizable, celebrated, and influential people and organizations in sports, media, business, fashion, and society. Many are increasingly using their status and visibility to put their viewpoints about democracy, social issues, and social justice into the public discourse.
Should the NBA be doing this now? Actually, some of its most famous players have been doing it for decades.
Speaking out and taking action on social issues have shaped the NBA since at least the 1960s, when Boston Celtics stars Bill Russell, Satch Sanders, KC Jones, and Sam Jones boycotted an away game after being denied access to local establishments because they were Black. Russell, a legend whose iconic jersey no. 6 was recently retired by all teams across the league, constantly spoke out and took action against racism and other social justice issues. Twenty years later, Los Angeles Lakers star Earvin “Magic” Johnson announced that he was HIV-positive, changing how many people around the world viewed those who contract the virus that causes AIDS.
More recently, the NBA and its players and coaches have been involved in get-out-the-vote drives. Much of it has stemmed from ambitions to reduce racial inequality and police brutality. Some of the league’s most prominent names have been at the forefront of the cause.
Over time, the discourse about social issues has gradually spilled over into the political realm. Two years ago, President Trump said that the NBA’s response to player protests over police brutality made it akin to “a political organization.” It wasn’t the only time that he asked the league about its stance on social issues during his time in the White House.
What the NBA is planning around the upcoming Election Day 2022, however, is not a campaign of political activity. It is the league’s careful way of fostering social responsibility.
Social responsibility, ethical behavior, and the impact that an organization has on society have long been a part of the culture of decision-making in the NBA. It is why, within weeks of the start of his tenure in 2014, Commissioner Adam Silver immediately banned Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling for life and orchestrated the sale of the franchise after his racially insensitive comments surfaced in an audio tape. It is the same values and thinking that led to the league shutting down the entire season when one player on one team tested positive for the then new coronavirus in March 2020.
The NBA’s Covid-19 response prioritized public health, signaling to billions of people in the US and around the world that business-as-usual was not the right response. That mindset and approach held when vaccines became available. The league made it clear that franchise players, staff, and officials should not use their status to get inoculated ahead of others in their communities whose medical conditions require that they have it sooner. Later, the NBA and its players would collaborate with medical researchers and healthcare companies by providing data that could be used as a sample to advance scientific understanding of Covid-19.
Part of the NBA’s response to Covid was to support many of its franchises and the cities they call home in using arenas as mass vaccination sites for their communities. The venues are community anchors, well-located, accessible via public transportation and highways, and experienced in managing large crowds. Months later, for the same reasons, arenas in 23 NBA cities were used as polling and voting places for the 2020 elections.
As the 2022 midterm elections come into view, the arenas are being called on to serve once again. It is challenging and expensive to convert any of them—they range in size from about 700,000-square-feet to over 1,000,000-square-feet—from a sports event one night to a major election the next morning. This time, though, they will have the benefit of months of lead-up support from and purposeful scheduling by the NBA.
What the NBA is doing is carving out a responsible role in its communities. Some lawmakers, like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a potential Republican presidential contender, may see it as another example of business engaging too much in politics. But by doing what it can to encourage voting, the NBA is showing the way to how private businesses can help preserve our democracy and a healthy society. It is possible to be in favor of both dribbling and voting.
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