With two months until the 2020 general election, the Chicago Bulls officially tipped off a voter education campaign aimed to motivate fans, players and front office staff to exercise their right to vote this fall. As part of the official campaign launch, the team debuted voting PSAs with a number of players, including Zach LaVine, Wendell Carter Jr., Coby White, Ryan Arcidiacono and Chandler Hutchison.
"The Bulls platform can play a big role in encouraging voter registration and turnout in the upcoming election," said Michael Reinsdorf, President & COO, Chicago Bulls. "We want to ensure our players, front office staff and all of our fans have the information they need in order to exercise their right to vote and will use our platforms to share resources to make information about the voting process accessible."
Over the course of the next two months, the Bulls will continue to roll out voting content, including additional player PSAs, and resources for fans in the Bulls.com/Vote content hub. Today, the team is launching an "I'm Voting" pledge button within the hub asking Bulls Nation to join us in committing to vote in the general election.
Additional Fan Engagement Campaign Elements
The Bulls have again joined the first nonpartisan voter coalition, Rally the Vote, made up of professional sports franchises across the NBA, WNBA, NFL, MLB, NHL and NWSL, to provide valuable resources for fans, players and front office staff supporting the voter education process. With this partnership, the team has created a virtual registration hub to allow fans to determine their registration status, register to vote and request mail-in ballots in their home states.
For the sixth year, the Bulls partnered with Lollapalooza (Lolla) earlier this summer to produce engaging content for the Chicago music festival's 18-35 year-old demographic. This year, the Bulls teamed up with Lolla to promote a message that is bigger than basketball and music, voting in the upcoming election, reaching 2.4 million people over the course of the 4-day virtual festival. For a unique virtual set, the Bulls collaborated with Chicago legends, including Common, Polo G, J. Ivy, who wrote an original song for the set, Tarrey Torae, Bulls' stars Zach LaVine and Wendell Carter Jr., the Chicago Bulls Bucket Boys and Benny the Bull. The 13-minute set, which debuted on July 31, included intimate music performances and candid, personal reflections about the importance of voting.
Player and Front Office Engagement Campaign Elements
The Bulls have also engaged the team’s players and front office staff in a variety
of activities. Bulls players participated in a voting education session and Bulls front office staff will also participate in an interactive team-building session later this month centered around the importance of civic action and the voting process.
In addition, the Bulls announced an organization-wide Paid Time Off (PTO) policy for all full-time staff on election days moving forward.
Visit Bulls.com/Vote for all campaign information, content and voting resources.
United Center Joint Venture Update
The United Center, Chicago Bulls and Chicago Blackhawks are committed to using our platforms to support our Chicago community. As part of that commitment, we are working with city officials to explore the possibility of using the United Center as a polling location for the upcoming general election. We will share updates as plans for the facility’s specific role come together.