In every championship that the Minnesota Lynx has won, its male counterparts have suffered 100 times from disappointment and despair. And this season the plague and the plague weren’t even figurative.
Ethan Casson is responsible for the business side of both teams, and in March he was unable to respond to the global pandemic that came on suddenly, harsh and far too close to home.
“Sport has always been a reflection of society,” he says.
And so the Wolves were out and about in March when the NBA suddenly canceled their Wednesday night fixtures, signaling the impact of COVID on the states, and faced as much uncertainty as any other business involving people gathering.
“In one moment,” says Casson, “you have gotten into a number of circumstances where it becomes very clear that as CEO there is no playbook for it.”
And then, in April, the Karl-Anthony Towns superstar center lost its mother to COVID-19.
“You are instantly reminded how real this is,” says Casson.
When George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis police officer less than a month later, Casson and the organization looked inward.
“OK,” he says, “what role do we want to play in this situation, in this movement?”
He said that after a series of deeply emotional and vulnerable discussions, as the company leader of a team that was mostly made up of black players, he realized that the organization needed to do more, give more, volunteer more and develop more opportunities for people in the community .
“We have the opportunity to contribute to the development and participation in sustainable change,” he says. “And that can’t happen overnight. This is something we have to commit ourselves to every day. ”
February 24, 2021
12:00 noon
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