This year will mark the first time the NBA is taking Election Day off to allow teams to voteGetty Images
All 30 NBA teams will play Nov. 7 before taking off the following day, Election Day, in an unprecedented move aimed at promoting nonpartisan civic engagement. The extent to which each team will further lean into that goal will vary by market. “Team by team, it will look different, which is one of the things that I think makes the work unique and powerful,” James Cadogan, the executive director of the National Basketball Social Justice Coalition, told SBJ. “Teams are going to do what makes sense for them in their markets, and that commitment is a thing that has been universal whether or not it manifests the same way.”
COME TOGETHER: The Kings, for instance, this week announced an expansive partnership to relaunch Rally the Vote, a nonpartisan coalition founded by the Kings to increase civic engagement by leveraging pro sports teams’ platforms. Coalition members include several teams across sports, including the NBA’s Nets, Bulls, Nuggets, Clippers, Bucks, T’Wolves and Trail Blazers and the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun. In addition, Monumental Sports & Entertainment and HeadCount, the nonprofit voter registration organization, announced a partnership to encourage fans to register to vote. HeadCount will set up voter registration tables in venues for Wizards and Mystics games.
WORKING TOWARDS THE FUTURE: Cadogan said this is the first time ever that the league has set aside a day during the season specifically for an event or series of events. The initiative involves working with the NBPA as well as individuals from the league’s team marketing and business operations unit, communications team and basketball operations, among others. The hope, Cadogan said, is to repeat this initiative for Election Day 2024 to bring even more Americans into the voting process. “I really think this is an incredible move by Adam [Silver] and Mark [Tatum] to really be progressive from the standpoint of putting actions behind words,” Cavaliers CEO Nic Barlage told SBJ, “really trying to empower people to get out and vote for whatever their views may be.”