Paycom Center The Day Sports Shut Down

It was a normal day to begin March 11, 2020, at the formally known Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City. The Utah Jazz were set to face the Oklahoma City Thunder in a regular season matchup as fans began to settle in and watch the players face off. However, before the game started players were told to go back to the locker room as fans watched in confusion. It was shortly after that fans were told to leave the arena as the game had been postponed. Soon after, news came out that star player and Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for Covid-19 and the game was to not be played. In a time when the pandemic was growing rapidly with no real answers, this news of a high-profile player falling ill led to all sports rapidly shutting down and games to not be played as the sports world suddenly stopped. This location is extremely relevant to American history as it was the big location where the sports world began to shut down. Not only did this event impact sports as what transpired at the then Chesapeake Energy Arena was shocking, but it led to more people coming to an understanding of what was actually taking place with COVID-19 in America during the start of the pandemic. 

The Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma is a place where fans gather to go and watch the National Basketball Association’s Oklahoma City Thunder. On March 11,2020 the Thunder were set to play the Utah Jazz in just another regular season matchup. However, news throughout the day had shown how COVID-19 is going and becoming a concern throughout the world. As "Visual Timeline of the Day That Changed Everything: March 11." by ESPN went through a breakdown of events from information that the World Health Organization announced in the afternoon, to the events that transpired at the then known as Chesapeake Center. The NBA started the day like any other by saying games would be played, however the events at the Arena in Oklahoma would change the landscape of sports.

As players ran onto the court to shoot around and practice before tip-off there was chatter in the background going on between the referees, coaches, and executives of each team. While players were on the court at the then known Chesapeake Arena a Utah Jazz player had fallen ill and tested positive for Covid-19. Fans in the stands sat around not knowing why the game had not started on time. It was soon after that the public address announcer informed the crowd that the game would not take place and for everyone to head home. The news at this location in Oklahoma City sent shockwaves throughout the country as other NBA games were taking place and people were getting alerts about what was transpiring at the arena.

The events that took place at the now known as Paycom Center are extremely important to history because it changed many peoples lives for months and years. The impact of just one NBA game at the Paycom Center set to take place at 8pm was so monumental that by 9:31pm the same day, the NBA announced the suspension of the season. Fans crowding an arena cheering on their team at the Paycom Center would not occur awhile as an NBA bubble was created months later, and when fans were allowed to return it was not at full capacity. Ultimately, In the matter of an hour the news and events that took place at this location changed the sports world forever and it will go down in history as the day the sports world stopped. 

Lindner, Andrew M., and Daniel Hawkins. “Why the NBA Shut down First: How Partisan Polarization Informs Sports and Public Health.” DigitalCommons@UNO, https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/socanthfacpub/27/.

This publication provided basic information about how the NBA shut down on March 11,2020 created larger awareness of the Covid-19 pandemic. It does raise some important issues about how Rudy Gobert a center for the Utah Jazz sparked the shutdown of the NBA as he had tested positive minutes before a game between the Utah Jazz and Oklahoma City Thunder. As the game was about to take place in Oklahoma City, a delay occurred once officials received news of the positive case. The NBA and the teams taking part in the game had to come to a quick decision on whether the game should be played as a crowd of fans sat waiting and unaware of the situation at hand. This source is a scholarly article, so it helps to increase credibility of the topic being discussed and is most certainly of importance to U.S history and my paper being composed. The title of the article is important because March 11,2020 and more specifically the events that took place in Oklahoma City that night created a unique platform where sports and public health merged into one. I accessed this site through googlescholor.com and used the search terms Rudy Gobert and Covid to help with my findings.

Galily, Yair. “The Coronavirus Pandemic as a Game-Changer: When NBA Players Forced America to Think. Again.” Frontiers, Frontiers, 27 Nov. 2020, https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.600267/full.

This article explains how the NBA and its stoppage of play on March 11,2020 was a key turning point in Americans gaining a better understanding that Covid-19 was not just going to vanish. This is relevant to American history because not only are sports a vital part of many Americans lives but covid-19 and the events that took place at the Oklahoma City Thunder’s arena led to people’s lives and the sports world to a halt. The article includes a section on how the NBA returned to play in a bubble months later which is relevant to the topic because while March 11 was so important, it impacted how the return to play was going to be done in a safe manner. This article was written as part of a larger research topic in regards to “The Effects of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Sport: Mental Health Implications on Athletes, Coaches, and Support Staff. The author of this article is reliable because he states how he does not have any conflict of interests when it comes to writing this and it helps to ensure that the article is useful in a research paper. I found this article through google scholar and using key words such as Oklahoma City Thunder, NBA, and Covid-19.

Wamsley, Laurel. “March 11, 2020: The Day Everything Changed.” NPR, NPR, 11 Mar. 2021, https://www.npr.org/2021/03/11/975663437/march-11-2020-the-day-everything-changed.

This article provides information about a timeline of what occurred in the United States on March 11,2020 as it relates to the Covid-19 pandemic. This is an important article to include because it details how impactful of a day this was not only in sports but for the entire nation. As the NBA game between the Utah Jazz and Oklahoma City Thunder was about to tip-off, news broke about a player falling ill. With Covid-19 still relatively new the NBA decided to cancel the game and send all the fans home. Owner of the Dallas Mavericks NBA team Mark Cuban heard about the news right away as his team was in the middle of a game elsewhere and was visibly in shock and confusion. This news as Cuban goes on to explain led to many questions not just about sports but about the everyday lives of Americans, such as “do we send our kids to school tomorrow”. This article is reliable as a news site because the information being relayed to the public is just a timeline of events with explanations of what occurred on this specific date in American history. I was able to find this article by using google.com and using key words such as Covid-19, March 11, 2020, and How the sports world stopped. 

Mussatto, Joe. “'Don't Let Them Tip the Ball': Oral History of How Covid Dashed March 11 Thunder-Jazz Game.” The Oklahoman, Oklahoman, 12 Mar. 2022, https://www.oklahoman.com/story/sports/nba/thunder/2021/03/11/thunder-jazz-march-11-covid-nba-postponed-game-shutdown-coronavirus-rudy-gobert-utah-oklahoma-city/6930268002/.

This article provides firsthand stories of people that were involved in the events that took place at the Chesapeake Arena in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on March 11,2020. This is an important article to include because it shows how the people that were involved first hand were thinking, feeling, and acting as everything was taking place in a time of uncertainty and confusion. With Covid-19 just beginning in the United States people were unsure about what was really going on and when a crowd full of people are told to leave it created a sense of worry that this truly is something to worry about. Oklahoma Governor Kevin Sitt stated, “there was a sense of, as we were walking through the bowels there of the Chesapeake Center, that we were making history with that decision.” March 11,2020 is truly the day that the sports world shut down and it all started with the events at the Chesapeake Arena which is why this specific event and venue are so important. This article is reliable as a source because it is providing actual stories of people at the time and place of the event while having credible stories such as the governors and commissioners to name a few. I was able to find this article through google.com using key words such as sports, March 11,2020.

“Visual Timeline of the Day That Changed Everything: March 11.” ESPN, ESPN Internet Ventures, 11 Mar. 2021, https://www.espn.com/espn/story/_/id/30546338/visual-line-day-changed-everything-march-11.

This article provides both visuals and written descriptions of the events that took place on March 11, 2020. This is an important article to include as having an understanding of other events and a timeline of the importance this day had in history is valuable to include. This article provides a timeline of critical events of one specific day and what transpired. At 12:26 pm the world health organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. However, with COVID still very unfamiliar to many in the United States events were still to go on as planned. The NBA was to continue the regular season and as the early games were underway things seemed to be going just fine. At 8PM players ran onto the court at the Chesapeake Center to play another game but by 9:31 PM the game was never played and the NBA announced the season was to be suspended. The events of March 11, 2020 and more specifically those that took place at the Chesapeake Center were extremely important to history.