How the major NBA league is handling Covid-19 and helping the community.
On March 11, 2020, the Miami Heat, along with the NBA, suspended the season in response to a player in the league being diagnosed with the virus. It was one of the first major sports leagues to take protective measures. One Utah Jazz player was diagnosed prior to the game against Oklahoma city thunder. Later, another player from the same team was diagnosed.
Think about it. Basketball is played indoors and everyone touches the ball. This is not a good way to prevent the spread of this deadly virus. Appropriate measures were put in place to keep everyone – fans, referees and players, safe.
The Miami Heat is ranked number four in the Eastern Conference, and many fans hold season tickets to their games.
Miami Heat fan and season ticket holder Belen freshman Diego Suarez writes, “The night the NBA decided to postpone the rest of the season I was on my couch watching the Heat play the Knicks. All of a sudden my phone started blowing up with texts and alerts from ESPN. I picked up my phone and saw that the NBA had postponed the season. I was very sad and knew that this was the first of many cancellations to come in the sports world and at first I thought it was way too early to cancel the season. But then as more news came out and I heard that Rudy Gobert, an NBA player, had the virus, I knew the NBA had no choice but to postpone the season. I’m still sad about it but it was a decision that had to be made for the safety of the fans and players.”
“Going into my home team’s stadium is always a thrill. The crowds cheering, the smell of the classic stadium food, and especially the tension on the court, make me feel somewhat at home. It’s been hard to process everything that has been going on but, for the NBA to cancel their season!? It’s something never done before!! I feel like it was the right thing to do for the good of the world but I really miss my heat-nation,” writes Heat fan Pauline Stanham ‘23.
The Miami Heat is stepping up to help the local community during these trying times. The team has partnered with Lineage Logistics, the world’s largest provider of temperature-controlled logistics, and Feeding America, the nation’s largest hunger relief organization. Heat executive and former All-Star center Alonzo Mourning, in partnership with food manufacturing and delivery company DeliverLean, led a group of volunteers in handing out free meals at Gibson Park in Overtown.
The Heat and the Micky & Madeleine Arison Family Foundation pledged a $200,000 donation to Feeding South Florida, and donated an additional $1 million to the Miami Heat Charitable Fund at the Miami Foundation “to establish an initiative designed specifically for employees and/or other community needs as they arise in the coming months.”
