Our mission to provide basketball opportunities for boys and girls that live in or go to school in Minneapolis is unwavering but with the risks of COVID-19 we now do so with increased focus on the safety of our players and the health of our community.  We put a lot of value in the accessibility of our program and keeping the fees low while also maintaining need based scholarship options.    

In order to have a successful season, we will need great cooperation and communication to keep our players safe.  We are staying informed by science and following resources from the Minnesota Department of Health.  We are also monitoring the guidance from the Minnesota State High School League and Minnesota Youth Athletic Services.  We are also watching and learning from the summer AAU programs to identify the protocols they are using to keep their players healthy.  The health and safety of our players is our biggest priority as we look to mitigate the risks associated with conducting a season during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Although there are a lot of unknowns, we are aware of a lot of changes that will impact members of our program this year.  The first noticeable change is the financial structure of tournaments.  Tournaments will be strictly controlling the flow of fans to tournaments to follow MDH guidelines and therefore will NOT be charging gate fees.  Most tournaments will not offer concessions and if concessions are offered, they will be significantly limited.  Tournaments are looking to offset this decrease in revenue from gate fees and concessions by changing higher registrations fees.  The typical tournament fee of $275 last season is $400 this season; this is a 47% increase.  

We aim to have access to the same practice facilities that we had access to last year however we will need to be flexible and we may be subject to some constraints in how we use the facilities and sanitation procedures. 

The projected impacts of these seasons on a family will be multi-faceted and will likely include:

• Being very aware of your players body temperature and not sending them to a MPLS Lakers event with a temperature that exceeds the then published guidelines
• Agreeing to additional language that addresses COVID-19 risks in your player waiver
• Abiding by team and program protocols that are established to prevent players and family members from being exposed to COVID-19
• Abiding by team and program protocols should a player or family member test positive for COVID-19
• A savings of approximately $200 in gate fees that a typical two-parent household might pay in gate fees to watch a player over the season
• Understanding that for the safety of the players and families, it is likely you will NOT see your player compete on the floor in person as often as you would like
• An upfront increase in player registration fees.  Whereas registration last year was $550 with a uniform, that registration will likely be about $695 this year.