Over the weekend, the NBA and its players’ association reached an agreement to offer their arenas to local election boards as alternative polling places for the 2020 election. There are fears that crowded polling sites would be dangerous to citizens of the United States who are trying to participate in their government during the COVID-19 pandemic. Large venues, like sports stadiums and arenas would offer the space for poll workers and voters to spread out and stay safer.
Yesterday, Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffery Lurie announced that he was offering Lincoln Financial Field as a polling site in 2020.
Lurie says #Eagles will open up Lincoln Financial Field as a polling place and will close offices on Election Day, encourage employees to volunteer.
— Marcus Hayes (@inkstainedretch) August 30, 2020
He has also gone further and said they will close team offices for election day and encourage their employees to volunteer as poll workers.
The Carolina Panthers have already demonstrated an interest in promoting participation in this year’s election with their Your Vote Counts initiative. The team has been helping to connect voters with information about how to register, where to vote, and how early voting works in the Carolinas.
Closer to home, Hornets Sports and Entertainment, responsible for the Charlotte Hornets and Spectrum Center, has already entered into this arena. They announced on July 22 that Spectrum Center had been approved as an early voting site in Mecklenburg county and that the team was making election day a company holiday. HSE employees are being encouraged to both vote and volunteer as poll workers with their new day off.
Bank of America Stadium is owned by the Carolina Panthers, but they have received significant public funds for recent renovations and are currently leasing the land on which the stadium sits for $1 a year. Now David Tepper has a chance to repay the public, in part, for their recent—and often controversial—generosity.