As Twitchy has reported, the NCAA has announced that NCAA tournament games are to be open to essential staff and limited family attendance only, and LeBron James has said he won’t play a game without fans in attendance. The NBA has also sent out a memo to its franchises that teams should be preparing to play games without fans in the bleachers.
It looks like the first casualty will be the Golden State Warriors vs. the Brooklyn Nets:
BREAKING: Golden State Warriors to host Brooklyn Nets in empty arena, the first NBA game to be played without fans because of the coronavirus outbreak.
Full coverage of the virus impact on sports ? https://t.co/3IQoUwKlgf
— AP Sports (@AP_Sports) March 11, 2020
J.A. Adande, director of sports journalism at Northwestern University, thinks fans should eat the cost of the tickets and the money be divided among the arena workers who might be taking a financial hit.
Rather than refunding the tickets, give the money to the arena workers whose paychecks are going to take a hit. It’s literally disposable income for the people who bought the tickets. It isn’t for the people who need to work these events to pay their bills
— J.A. Adande (@jadande) March 11, 2020
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It’s true that it’s literally disposable income, but a lot of disposable income in most cases.
The average joe who spent $100 on nosebleeds could use their money back
— J S (@jsor21) March 11, 2020
They cost more than that. I've prob. attended on and off for 18 years
— Bijan C. Bayne (@bijancbayne) March 11, 2020
This a bad take.
— Greg (@gwiss) March 11, 2020
Spoken like someone who hasn’t paid for a ticket in a long time
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 11, 2020
So let the paying fans foot the bill rather than the billionaire owners? Sounds like America alright
— Dr. Rajpal Brar, DPT (@3cbPerformance) March 11, 2020
Bro it ain't that disposable. We all aren't sitting courtside.
— Marty Teller (@mwteller) March 11, 2020
I appreciate the thought behind that but it’s not disposable income for a lot of the people who come to the SEC Tournament. It’s their one yearly vacation for working folks
— Matt Jones (@KySportsRadio) March 11, 2020
Or refund AND pay the employees. They are billionaires.
— TC (@tjc243) March 11, 2020
Right, shift the burden to the fans who could possibly have saved for months for a cheap seat ticket. Definitely don't shift it to the owners who are worth Billions. Great take.
— Wagner (@TheGerman21) March 11, 2020
…or they could use resources from the billionaires in charge instead?
— sreekar (@sreekyshooter) March 11, 2020
No. The people who paid for those tickets paid for a certain entertainment experience. If they want to pay the employees, let the millionaire players and billionaire owners do it. You’re not in charge of allocating other people’s money.
— Mike Bradley (@MBradMusic) March 11, 2020
Who's to say it's disposable income? Not everybody who attends games is wealthy.
— Evan Render (@evanrender) March 11, 2020
and some of us drop $4,000+ a year for season tickets instead of taking pricey vacations.
— Jason (@GutterTheGreat) March 11, 2020
This is an actual tweet someone who is a Director of sports journalism. Let that sink in.
— Geauxt Burreaux (@joemoneymixon) March 11, 2020
It's literally their money. They deserve to be refunded.
— Bryan Bishop (@Bigbish21) March 11, 2020
There’s still time to delete this…
— Ryan (@Ryan_Namo) March 11, 2020
Burden of paying employees should be on the fans, not the billion dollar companies. Makes sense.
— Alex (@Alex_JFurtado) March 11, 2020
This is a ? take
— Crew will win the cup in 2020 (@Carpenteryan) March 11, 2020
God this is a terrible take
— Engleekay Anshit (@JosephBananas) March 11, 2020
is this what you are teaching journalism students at Northwestern? If school is cancelled, will you refuse a paycheck? Come on man!
— Tony Bruno (@TonyBrunoShow) March 11, 2020
I have season tickets and it is not disposable income. We make sacrifices to get our tickets. Like only one car payment, so we can get our season tickets.
Not all people who go to the game are rich JA.
I do feel for the people working the games, but this is not way to fix it
— April ? (@A_Town_Denver) March 11, 2020
That is insanely absurd
— Andrew Sunday (@Asunday24) March 11, 2020
Not disposable income. Fans work hard to see their team/players play and they pay ridiculous fees as well. Separate the two. Refund the ticket holders and pay the workers separately.
— Seth Heng (@HengTimeSports) March 11, 2020
Or maybe the billion dollar franchise can compensate the employees rather than say the fans.
— Ty Avery (@TyAvery12) March 11, 2020
This is not a good take
— StreetArtSquirrel (@st_art_squirrel) March 11, 2020
billionaires looking at this tweet pic.twitter.com/CYfaajfcbm
— I Think You Should League Pass (@nbaleave) March 11, 2020
Disposable income? Like people don’t save up for months to purchase tickets for birthdays or gifts?
— Landon Oliver (@landon289) March 11, 2020
I mean they are billionaires, they can pay their own employees. I’d like to get paid back for a game I did not get to go to. Some of us actually have to save up money to keep season tickets. Lol
— Jillian Adge (@JillAdge) March 11, 2020
Disposable? ??Do you know how much overtime I work to go to a Laker game?
— Neo Money?️? (@MatrixK007) March 11, 2020
Make the owners take care of their employees instead of making the fans do it. It ain't that hard, dude
— Clint Peterson (@Clintonite33) March 11, 2020
This is bait right? What you're suggesting is actual theft.
— Grizz (32-32) (@GrizzNxtGen) March 11, 2020
This is a bad take. You don’t know the circumstances of the fans getting the tickets. Refund them AND pay the workers.
— ?the other RBG ? (@PupsAndPucks) March 11, 2020
This is a really stupid take! How about the arena that makes a ton of money and the organization that makes a ton of money pay the workers. Some people save to go to these things. It's not always disposable income. @jadande
— Eddie Smith (@Padres61) March 11, 2020
I beg to differ. I sacrifice to pay for season tickets. If a game is canceled, I want my refund. All of the fans in attendance aren’t millionaires. If you want to donate some of your income to the staff that rely on events for income feel free to do so.
— Maya ♥️s ??but its complicated (@RowdyMaya) March 12, 2020
Yeah I mean it’s not disposable income for me and probably isn’t for a lot of other people too.
— Megan Cornelius (@dodgermacncheez) March 11, 2020
It’s not too soon. You can delete this.
— Lucas Ohland (@LucasOhland) March 11, 2020
You are officially out of touch.
— Mikey Peterson (@Mikeyvp) March 11, 2020
there are lots of assumptions about who goes to nba games and why built into this tweet. poor people also enjoy entertainment, that doesn't mean the money they spend is "literally disposable"
— Tyler Blint- Welsh (@tylergabriel_) March 11, 2020
This is absolutely ridiculous. Workers can and should be supported by their employers. Most of the people who go to these games are not extremely wealthy.
— Dañiel Simpson (@DSimpson88) March 11, 2020
Disposable income? Not for me, J.A. And I sit in the upper level when I take my son to a game, so it still costs me good money even though I'm being fiscally responsible.
— AdamInHTownTX (@AdamInHTownTX) March 11, 2020
This is stupid. People save months and months to go to a game. They should be reimbursed as well. As these leagues have enough money to dish it out to everyone.
— zach (@WZH_07) March 12, 2020
Delete this. Terrible take. People save their money to be entertained. Majority, if not all, of the people who paid to see a game live should be refunded.
— Branden Furlow (@lakershomie08) March 11, 2020
The worst take ever.
— Charles Corlett (@CharlesCorlett) March 12, 2020
Worst take of all the worst takes I’ve seen from the sports media lately.
— scgo (@goCDSDS) March 11, 2020
This tweet is still up, huh
— Zach Mullis (@zmullis) March 12, 2020
This is one of the dumbest things I've ever read.
— Tyler Woods (@Tylow237) March 11, 2020
How do you have a college degree
— Parker Harrelson (@parkerh171) March 11, 2020
Did you think about this for even a second before you tweeted it?
— Daniel Long (@DanLong1298) March 11, 2020
Related:
LeBron James says he won't play if the NBA bans fans from games due to coronavirus https://t.co/YVF1UvN1Ue
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) March 11, 2020
