It's now been just over two years since the entire world seemed to shut down because of the COVID-19 pandemic. One local sports executive says what many felt was going to be a temporary situation turned into a wide-ranging effort to keep people heathy and safe.
In 2020, the Timberwolves had played 64 games and we're taking a three-game losing streak into their next contest at Oklahoma City, scheduled for Friday, March 13th.
“March 11th was when an NBA player tested positive for COVID-19,” remembers Timberwolves Chief Executive Officer Ethan Casson. “That evening commissioner Adam Silver announced the indefinite suspension of the NBA season.”
Casson says at the time, there was no thought given to this potentially shutting down the rest of the season.
Related
“At that period of time, although there was a lot of questions and confusion, first and foremost we wanted to make sure that everything we were doing took into consideration the safety of our fans, players and staff,” Casson tells WCCO’s Al Schoch. “We actually, I think at one point looked at it almost as a 30-day hiatus, that we really reevaluate what was going on in the world, in our country and our communities and then make a more specific decisions 30 days later.”
As we know now, there was no reset after 30 days for the Timberwolves or anyone else. Casson says among the first things the organization did was create a COVID relief fund.
“We pledged up to $1 million dollars of relief fund money to be granted to our part-time game day staff at Target Center,” Casson said. “The folks that create that incredible Target Center experience, the Timberwolves experience. They're kind of the backbone of what makes that building go. So it was really important for (owner) Glen Taylor and our executive team to make sure that first and foremost, that those people were compensated for the missed work.”
However, Casson also knew more long term issues were coming their way, and not just for the Timberwolves, but for all of the Twin Cities major sports teams. The top executives of the Twins, Vikings, Wild and Minnesota United joined with Casson once a week. They invited the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers to participate as well.
“Every Wednesday we would connect with one another and it started really a couple of weeks after things shut down, where we wanted to check in with one another,” said Casson who has been Wolves CEO since 2016. “How are you making decisions with your staff? What are you hearing from your leagues, relative to protocol, safety, etcetera? And what ended up happening is we maintained this mode of communication.”
To this day, the group still holds those Wednesday meetings. Cooperative efforts such as providing vaccination sites and pushing the use of masks led to continuing efforts including food drives and coordinating safety measures at sporting events.
Casson says they work together to get people through the pandemic and beyond.
“I'm proud of all the sports teams here in our community and our marketplace because I do think what came out of it was really a collaboration and effort.”
Related
