All 30 teams will play on November 7, one day before the United States goes to the polls on November 8.
“In the coming months, the teams will be distributing information on their state’s voting process and voter registration deadlines and are encouraging everyone to share this information with families and friends to make sure everyone has a plan.”
The league hopes that the teams will “exploit the platform of the games played [the day before Election Day] to amplify the work of each team to promote civic engagement in their respective markets and share important voting resources from our partners ”.
The majority of Democrats in Congress are currently very thin with the Senate split 50-50 and speaker Nancy Pelosi’s control of the House resting on a thin edge.
This isn’t the first time the NBA has tried to encourage voting on Election Day, with many teams turning their facilities into voting centers in 2020.
Stars like LeBron James were also involved in the voting, with the four-time NBA champion previously urging his followers to register for the 2020 presidential election.
The league has never scheduled games around an election, traditionally missing only Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and sometimes around the NCAA men’s basketball championship game.
