Events DC has managed to find plenty of worthwhile uses for the Washington Mystics’ home court outside of basketball.
After a push by many in Ward 8, where a significant portion of DC’s Black population lives, the DC Entertainment and Sports Arena became a voting supercenter in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election – an election in which Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won the District by an overwhelming margin of 93%-7%.
Natasha Cloud, who sat out last year’s bubble season from the Mystics, was also involved in that push.
Ward 8 residents now have access to coronavirus vaccines as the ESA is currently serving as a Covid-19 vaccination site.
Jenn Hatfield at The Next was told by a source that the ESA will be used as a COVID vaccination area through April 2021. Events DC’s website says April 10 and times are Tuesdays through Saturdays from 8:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
If the WNBA season starts in May, as it did the last season (2019) where there was no bubble, it would be roughly a month prior to the start of a 2021 season, but no schedule has been released.
(1/2) Entertainment & Sports Arena (home of @WashMystics) is being used as a COVID-19 vaccination site through April 2021, a source directly involved w/ the plans tells me. The Mystics “were not directly involved in the decision” but are “supportive of its use for this purpose.”
— Jenn Hatfield (@jennhatfield1) February 17, 2021
(2/2) The source says it’s a similar situation to how ESA was used as a polling site in the fall – the Mystics were not part of the decision but supportive. The team’s ownership group even held a voter registration drive across from the arena in October. @TheNextHoops
— Jenn Hatfield (@jennhatfield1) February 17, 2021
