For Sports Halted at the Outbreak’s Onset, Loans Saved Staff

July 13, 2020
Sport

The association is one of five major national federations receiving more than $150,000 in program funds. (The others are the United States Ski Association, the U.S. Figure Skating Association, the National Association of Competitive Soccer Clubs and the U.S. Equestrian Team Foundation.)

Start-Ups

Newer leagues also received funding, including the Premier Lacrosse League, founded in 2018 and based in El Segundo, Calif. After procuring at least $1 million in funds, the league will hold its season from July 25 to Aug. 9 at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman, Utah.

The BIG3 basketball league, founded in 2017 by the musician Ice Cube and Jeff Kwatinetz, an entertainment executive, received $900,000 to pay coaches and players. It had originally gotten $1.6 million but it returned $700,000.

E-sports also benefited. Envy Gaming, one of several gaming companies to have received more than $150,000, was able to keep paying its staff after business dried up. The organization, founded in 2007 as a professional Call of Duty team, canceled six of seven multiday events in its northern Texas home base before e-sports moved entirely online.