Opinion | On Kobe’s “public” memorial

Luca Evans

Sports Editor

@lucae123

Dear Los Angeles Lakers organization,

You have handled the passing of Kobe Bryant with appropriate grace, respect and courtesy. I gained quite a bit of respect for you.

I subsequently lost most of that respect with your handling of Bryant’s Feb. 24 “public” memorial, to the point where it makes me furious even thinking about it. I didn’t even grow up as a Lakers fan. Imagine how those folks feel.

Here is why I say “public.” Put yourself in the shoes of the thousands of fans I saw crowd around the plaza of L.A. Live before the Lakers’ first home game since Bryant’s death. Many of them were crying and overcome with emotion. They saw Bryant as a hero — an idol they watched almost every night on television and shouted the name of when they threw trash into a wastebasket. Imagine them being forced to pay $224 for a ticket to a “public” funeral of that hero. You set that price. So no, Lakers, this was not a “public” funeral. This was private.

Not only did you eliminate a large demographic of potential attendees who didn’t have the money to pay for a ticket, you made fans register through Ticketmaster. You gave them a select three-day period to register, upon which Ticketmaster had to subsequently waitlist a huge number of fans who had paid for their tickets.

You also discouraged fans from showing up to Staples Center if they didn’t have tickets, declaring that the memorial wouldn’t be played on the television screens at LA Live. Now, people who couldn’t afford a ticket to the event couldn’t even pay tribute to their favorite player outside of the building. I understand that you didn’t want to pack the plaza, but come on. This moment, at least much of it, should be largely up to the fans’ discretion as how they want to mourn, not yours.

I understand you’re donating all the proceeds to the Mamba and Mambacita Sports Foundation, an admirable act that’s the silver lining of the situation. I understand that you didn’t want to flood the building with people, so you put a price on tickets. But would it have been so hard to charge $24 or even $124 or some other variation of Bryant’s number for tickets that wasn’t as gaudily expensive and then make another donation to the foundation yourself?

Instead, you blocked a wide range of Los Angeles citizens from attending a public service because they didn’t have the money. In his playing days, Bryant served as a beacon that everyone flocked to to watch him play. This private memorial was honorable in theory, but disappointing in execution.