The Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Cavaliers and Cleveland Indians announced Thursday a sports alliance to spread awareness on social justice issues.
Specifically, the three teams will focus on social injustice facing the city of Cleveland and Northeast Ohio communities.
“We understand the platform our organization has to make a positive impact on these important issues,” Browns general manager Andrew Berry said in a news release. “When Coach Stefanski and I began discussing how we might be able to elevate and broaden that impact by expanding the dialogue to our counterparts in Cleveland, it quickly became apparent that partnering with the other teams in our city would help our region come together so we can collectively address the problems that we’ve all been working to help solve independently.”
The alliance will also focus on improving the relationship with law encouragement and its communities, encourage nonpartisan voting activities and increasing the opportunities equality education.
Here are the leaders on the alliance from each team:
- Browns: Berry and head coach Kevin Stefanski
- Cavaliers: General manager Koby Altman and head coach J.B. Bickerstaff
- Indians: President of baseball operations Chris Antonetti, general manager Mike Chernoff and manager Terry Francona
“We recognize the profound impact that professional sports have on the greater Cleveland community, and the enormous responsibility that comes with such a platform,” said Antonetti. “While the circumstances that highlighted the need for this partnership are disheartening, Tito, Mike and I are excited by the opportunity to work with such a thoughtful and diverse group of leaders to identify opportunities to be a positive force for change. There is a lot of work to do, and we believe that this partnership will serve to amplify our collective impact.”
Players from each team will also have an opportunity to get involved, according to the release posted on the Browns’ website.
“We have an extraordinary opportunity to make a lasting impact on society and the Cavaliers are committed to help bring about change,” Altman said in the release. “The social and economic disparity in our community reveals some ugly truths, and Coach Bickerstaff and I are honored to be at the table to address these issues with such a prominent group of our peers. We never take for granted our place in the fabric of Cleveland and hopefully our coming together inspires others to join us.”
Several NFL teams have canceled practice on Thursday, including the Indianapolis Colts, New York Jets and the Washington football team.
The Detroit Lions canceled practice on Tuesday.
The announcement from Cleveland’s NBA, NFL and MLB teams came a day after the Milwaukee Bucks decided not to take the floor for Game 5 of their first-round playoff series against the Orlando Magic.
The two other Game 5s — Houston Rockets-Oklahoma City Thunder and Los Angeles Lakers-Portland Trail Blazers — are also postponed.
The NBA said the games would be rescheduled, but it remains to be seen when specifically as of Thursday morning.
Milwaukee is about 40 miles north of Kenosha, Wisconsin, the city where police shot 29-year-old Black man Jacob Blake seven times on Sunday.
Major League Baseball also postponed three games on Wednesday: Cincinnati Reds-Milwaukee Brewers, Seattle Mariners-San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers-San Francisco Giants.
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