A Royal Pain
Fansided

Protest Keeps Fans Outside of the Sacramento Kings Game

By Rafe Wong

SACRAMENTO, CA - MARCH 22: Black Lives Matter protesters block Interstate 5 during a demonstration on March 22, 2018 in Sacramento, California. Hundreds of protesters staged a demonstration against the Sacramento police department after two officers shot and killed Stephon Clark, an unarmed black man, in the backyard of his grandmother's house following a foot pursuit on Sunday evening. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
SACRAMENTO, CA - MARCH 22: Black Lives Matter protesters block Interstate 5 during a demonstration on March 22, 2018 in Sacramento, California. Hundreds of protesters staged a demonstration against the Sacramento police department after two officers shot and killed Stephon Clark, an unarmed black man, in the backyard of his grandmother's house following a foot pursuit on Sunday evening. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

Numerous basketball fans were unable to watch tonight’s Sacramento Kings game in person due to another protest that was being held outside of the Golden 1 Center.

Many people bought tickets to watch tonight’s contest between the Sacramento Kings and Dallas Mavericks. But unfortunately, many of these paying customers were unable to witness the game.

The reason for this is because a protest was being held outside of the Golden 1 Center which prevented people from entering the venue. The protest was executed due to the recent death of Stephon Clark who died because he was shot by Sacramento police officers.

This is not the first time a protest has happened outside the Golden 1 Center due to Clark’s death. Last Thursday, when the Kings hosted the Atlanta Hawks, was the first time people held a protest outside of the arena which resulted in the game being temporarily delayed and eventually being played out in front of a small percentage of people who were able to get into the building.

For tonight’s game, the results were pretty much the same. Although the game was not delayed, only a small percentage of people filled the seats of Golden 1. According to James Ham, Kings’ reporter for Comcast Sports California, only about 4,000 people were able to get into the arena to watch the game. During the first half of tonight’s match, fans outside the arena were eventually asked to leave due to safety reasons.

Final Thoughts

Once Thursday’s protest concluded, it seemed like no protest was going to be held outside the Golden 1 Center anymore. But then tonight happened.

Considering the Kings have three home games left until the regular season ends, another protest could definitely happen again. If that situation does arise, it will be interesting to see how the Kings organization responds to it.

Home/Kings News