Lakers shamed into returning government loan meant for small businesses
When Donald Trump, the Senate and House of Representatives agreed on a bill worth $350 billion for small businesses to make it through the Covid-19 pandemic, they didn’t have organizations worth $4.4 billion in mind.
The Los Angeles Lakers claimed $4.5 million in “small business loans” before being shamed into returning the money after they were outed by a CBS investigation.
I’m wondering if most American small businesses charge these prices?
Average cost of admission ~ $261
Average beer ~$13
And one of the costliest parking garages of any NBA city ~ $25
““I never expected in a million years that the Los Angeles Lakers, which, I’m a big fan of the team, but I’m not a big fan of the fact that they took a $4.6 million loan,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. ”
So while millions of Americans sole goal during Covid-19 is to simply survive, the Lakers attempted to prevent small business owners in Los Angeles from doing just that.
What, did the Lakers think they could go out of business? With LeBron on the roster?
The last 6 weeks have given each of us a chance to reevaluate our lives. What we thought was once important no longer is. What we took for granted will never happen again.
And next time a basketball fan in Los Angeles has a desire to attend a Lakers game in person, he or she or you should think back to when the world was a sad place. When an organization worth $4.4 billion attempted to steal from the very Americans they price gouge during every home game October-June. Stay greedy, Lakers. You don’t know any other way.
Jeremy Garrison is the co-founder of Popline Media and can be heard as J-Dawg on Popline’s flagship podcast, The Sports Hangover.