Mavericks To Begin Playing National Anthem At Home Games After League Reminder About Policy
DALLAS (KDKA) - The NBA issued a statement about a "longstanding league policy" that requires all teams to play the national anthem as fans are making their way back to arenas.
The NBA said: "With NBA teams now in the process of welcoming fans back into their arenas, all teams will play the national anthem in keeping with longstanding league policy."
This comes a day after Dallas Mavericks owner and Mt. Lebanon native Mark Cuban said his team has not played the anthem before home games, so far, this season, as first reported by The Athletic.
The Mavericks confirmed they will be playing the anthem starting with Wednesday night's home game against the Atlanta Hawks.
Statement by Mark Cuban pic.twitter.com/OmtMNFUz1K
— Dallas Mavericks (@dallasmavs) February 10, 2021
"We respect and always have respected the passion people have for the anthem and our country. But we also loudly hear the voices of those who feel that the anthem does not represent them. We feel that their voices need to be respected and heard, because they have not been," Cuban said in a statement Wednesday.
"Going forward, our hope is that people will take the same passion they have for this issue and apply the same amount of energy to listen to those who feel differently from them. Only then can we move forward and have courageous conversations that move this country forward and find what unites us."
For the first 10 home games, the Mavericks didn't have fans in the stands. The team will be allowing 1,500 vaccinated essential workers to attend four home games between Feb. 8 and Feb. 14 for free.
An NBA spokesperson previously said teams were able to "run their pregame operations as they see fit" due to COVID-19 guidelines that had clubs playing in empty arenas.