Warriors and Athletics plan to convert stadiums into voting centers

The Golden State Warriors and Oakland Athletics are making their stadiums voting locations.

The Golden State Warriors may not be in the Orlando bubble, and the Oakland Athletics aren’t even in the NBA, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t in solidarity with the players and their stance for social justice, equality, and political accessibility.

After striking for three days, the players in the bubble and around the NBA came together to discuss what they could do to help make their voices be heard and move the needle forward on some of the things that they want to see change.

This is the first time in the modern sports era that players have gone on strike. Because of this, and because of the serious issues that the players are trying to shed light on, much of the sports world followed suit.

We saw strikes from all over the American sports leagues. From the MLB to the NHL, and even to Tennis star Naomi Osaka.

After a few days of breathing room, the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association announced in a joint statement with the NBA, that competition will resume on Saturday, August 29th, with three initiatives now in place.

One of the big initiatives is that the league plans to have each city where a team is present work with city representatives to convert their stadiums into voting centers. And if the stadium is off-limits, then the idea would be to look for some other easily accessible place like a practice facility.

The Warriors and Oakland Athletics are among teams converting their stadiums into voting centers.

The Dubs didn’t miss a beat and announced that they are already in the process of doing this for their newly built Chase Center. And over in Oakland, in a ripple effect, the A’s are trying to do the same thing at the Coliseum.

The news is still fresh, but Connor Letourneau and Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle have the early scoop.

"“Across the bay, the A’s are working on a similar effort at the Coliseum, team President Dave Kaval told The Chronicle.Golden State plans to announce specifics next week, while Kaval said the A’s are early in the process and would need backing from the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Joint Powers Authority since they don’t own the facility.”"

This would be great news for the Bay if both of these facilities can be converted into voting centers. Elections are always important, but this November is going to be a huge one. And with reports about the accessibility of mail-in ballots changing every day, people are confused.

People are also scared because we’re still in the middle of a pandemic, and the idea of going into a tightly spaced polling place might turn them off to the idea entirely.

But that won’t be the case in a huge place like the Chase Center or the Oakland Coliseum. Space could be redistributed and used in a way to ensure that everyone is able to keep their distance from one another and feel safe enough to cast their ballot.

It’s great that the NBA is taking charge of this issue. Their three-day strike may have been brief, but it seems like, at least in the short term, their voices and their agency are felt.