Mayor Bill de Blasio hopes that the Brooklyn Nets’ upcoming participation in the NBA Playoffs can give the city an assist in its efforts to vaccinate more New Yorkers.
While wearing a Nets jersey and hat, the mayor announced Tuesday that the city and the Nets were teaming up.
“The Nets are now going to be joining the battle against COVID with a mobile vaccination site right outside Barclays Center,” the mayor said at a news conference announcing the offer.
According to the Nets, the new vaccination site will only be available the day of and the day before home games. The mobile vaccination site will actually be set up across the street from the Barclays, at 143 Flatbush Avenue.
The Nets’ offer is in line with some of the other giveaways announced in recent weeks. The Mets and the Yankees announced earlier this year that they would offer free tickets to an upcoming game to those vaccinated at their respective stadiums on specific dates.
But the Nets’ offer is different in that the tickets the team is offering would be to a playoff game, as opposed to a regular season game.
“I feel like it’s giving the fans a little more of a present,” Nets fan Joshua Foster said about the ticket offer.
“It will be a big incentive for people,” said Debra Hamilton, another Nets fan.
NBA playoff tickets can be expensive and, according to prices listed online Tuesday, currently retail for at least $115.
NY1 spoke to one young fan, who was not old enough to get the shot herself but could still see the appeal of the offer:
“If they get free tickets, they won’t have to pay for it. So if they don’t have to pay for it, they’ll save up more money,” said Mackenzie Jordan, who was attending a Liberty game with her mother at Barclays Center on Tuesday.
Another difference with the Nets’ offer is that some people who are already vaccinated can still qualify for the raffle to attend a playoff game for free. The Nets are opening up the offer to those already vaccinated, but only if they live in one of 33 neighborhoods that city’s Task Force on Racial Inclusion and Equity previously found were disproportionately impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.
“The Nets, and the whole NBA, to their great credit, are focused on social justice, are focused on attacking the disparities that we learned during the COVID crisis,” the mayor said.
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