No, the NBA All-Star Game’s not coming to Boston
Massachusetts House Speaker Robert DeLeo’s pitch to bring the NBA’s 2017 All-Star Game to Boston will have to be classified as wishful thinking. The TD Garden is all booked up.
Related Links
The NBA pulled the game from Charlotte, North Carolina, on Thursday in protest of a state law that requires transgender individuals to use the restroom that corresponds with the gender on their birth certificates, and not the one that matches their gender identity. The law also bars cities and towns from establishing laws to protect LGBT people from discrimination in public accommodations or employment.
With the news, DeLeo tweeted that the NBA should move the game to Boston. He emphasized the recent passage of a Massachusetts bill protecting transgender people from discrimination, including by allowing them access to the restrooms they identify with.
Bring the #AllStarGame to MA, where we recently advanced civil rights with #transgender law https://t.co/KbleclQeaW https://t.co/yFKsgsHRRe
— Bob DeLeo (@SpeakerDeLeo) July 21, 2016
Alas, on February 19, the planned date for the game, there would be no room for the All-Star Game even if the NBA wanted to bring it to Boston.
“We have not been approached by the NBA to host the 2017 All-Star game, however, we would be unable to host due to scheduling commitments that week,” Tricia McCorkle, spokeswoman for TD Garden, said in an email Friday.
In March, when the NBA first threatened to pull the game from Charlotte due to the controversy, McCorkle told Boston.com that Disney on Ice was slated for the Garden on the game’s scheduled date.
It was always a Steph Curry-distance long shot, anyway. According to expert NBA reporter Adrian Wojnarowski, New Orleans is the league’s preferred new site for the game.
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com