From start to finish, the 2019-20 NBA season was mired in political controversy. The campaign began with an international business crisis, prompted by then-Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey tweeting support for the Hong Kong protesters, and ended with the league and its players at the center of the raucous nationwide debate over racial justice.
This year, it’s apparent the NBA wants to take a pause.
On Tuesday, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban confirmed his team had stopped playing the national anthem before home games. Fans were allowed at Dallas’ American Airlines Center for the first time Monday (tickets were provided to 1,500 vaccinated healthcare workers and first-responders).
The revelation quickly started trending, and reignited the long-running debate about playing the national anthem before sporting events. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was even asked about President Joe Biden’s opinion on the practice.
On Wednesday afternoon, the NBA issued a statement clarifying every team will play the national anthem before games going forward. The league was aware of Dallas’ decision to amend its pregame operations while it was playing without fans.
An NBA spokesperson didn’t provide additional comment.
In an interview with ESPN’s Rachel Nichols, Cuban said he decided to cease playing the “Star-Spangled Banner” after holding conversations with players and people in the community. “In listening to the community, there were quite a few people who voiced their concerns, really their fears that the national anthem did not fully represent them, that their voices were not being heard,” he said.
While NBA guard Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf stopped standing for the anthem in 1996, citing America’s history of oppression, the issue became supercharged when Colin Kaepernick began kneeling during the song in 2016. The San Francisco 49ers didn’t re-sign Kaepernick the following offseason, and he’s been out of the league ever since. In 2017, President Donald Trump poured verbal gasoline on the issue, calling kneeling NFL players “sons of bitches.”
When the NBA season resumed amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, kneeling during the anthem became commonplace. Many of the league’s superstars, led by LeBron James, spoke out about Black victims of police brutality, and players went on strike following the shooting of an unarmed Black man in Milwaukee. The NBA painted the “Black Lives Matter” logo on the court, while players wore social justice slogans on jerseys in-lieu of their surnames.
Meanwhile, TV ratings declined 51%, with the NBA Finals were down 49%. There are multiple possible explanations for the steep fall, including the proliferation of cord-cutting and upended schedules. Nearly every sports league experienced ratings declines in 2020.
But some findings indicate fans were not enamored with the players’ social commentary. A September Harris Poll found 39% of sports fans were watching fewer NBA games, with 38% of that sample saying the league had become “too political.” In addition, 19% of fans cited the league’s lucrative relationship with China, a sign that attacks from Republicans, who frequently criticized the NBA for its acquiescence to Beijing, were resonating.
In a nod to those numbers, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said last fall the league’s social justice messaging would be scaled back in 2021 — even though he’s also said there’s “no data” that shows it negatively impacted ratings. “My sense is there will be somewhat a return to normalcy,” Silver told ESPN. “That message will largely be left to be delivered off the floor. And I understand those people who are saying, ‘I’m on your side, but I want to watch a basketball game.’”
NBA ratings have increased so far this season, with national numbers up 34% through Martin Luther King Day. Once again, there are many potential explanations, beginning with the fact NBA games are now being played during their usual time, opposed to the late-summer and early fall.
But the league’s anthem edict shows they don’t want to take any chances. So far, the biggest stories this season have been trade requests and blockbuster deals. The NBA seemingly wants to keep it that way.
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the NDP is caving to political pressure from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre when it comes to their stance on the consumer carbon price.
Trudeau says he believes Jagmeet Singh and the NDP care about the environment, but it’s “increasingly obvious” that they have “no idea” what to do about climate change.
On Thursday, Singh said the NDP is working on a plan that wouldn’t put the burden of fighting climate change on the backs of workers, but wouldn’t say if that plan would include a consumer carbon price.
Singh’s noncommittal position comes as the NDP tries to frame itself as a credible alternative to the Conservatives in the next federal election.
Poilievre responded to that by releasing a video, pointing out that the NDP has voted time and again in favour of the Liberals’ carbon price.
British Columbia Premier David Eby also changed his tune on Thursday, promising that a re-elected NDP government would scrap the long-standing carbon tax and shift the burden to “big polluters,” if the federal government dropped its requirements.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Simon Jolin-Barrette, minister responsible for consumer protection, has tabled a bill to force merchants to calculate tips based on the price before tax.
That means on a restaurant bill of $100, suggested tips would be calculated based on $100, not on $114.98 after provincial and federal sales taxes are added.
The bill would also increase the rebate offered to consumers when the price of an item at the cash register is higher than the shelf price, to $15 from $10.
And it would force grocery stores offering a discounted price for several items to clearly list the unit price as well.
Businesses would also have to indicate whether taxes will be added to the price of food products.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
