Recap: “When Is It Okay? Restarting Sports After 9/11”

Sports commissioners join Sportscenter anchor Mike Greenberg speak onstage during a public program at the Museum auditorium.
Sports commissioners and SportsCenter anchor Mike Greenberg discuss restarting sports after tragedy in a public program at the 9/11 Memorial Museum. Photo by Monika Graff, 9/11 Memorial.

Last week, four former sport league commissioners and Mike Greenberg, longtime SportsCenter anchor and current host of ESPN’s "Get Up!”, discussed the challenge of returning to regular season play after the 2001 attacks in a public program at the 9/11 Memorial Museum.

“When Is It Okay? Restarting Sports After 9/11” brought together honorary exhibition co-chairs of the current special exhibition “Comeback Season: Sports After 9/11,” including NBA Commissioner Emeritus David J. Stern, WNBA Founding President and Big East Conference Commissioner Val Ackerman, former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue and current NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman.

In the video clip below, Commissioner Bettman explains the prominent place that sports holds in American life.

“It’s healing, it’s unity, it’s people gathering together at a time of sorrow and feeling the commonality of pain and the hope for the future and sports teams, sports leagues, sports in general, bring people of diverse backgrounds together and give them a common focus and a path forward and unfortunately there are incidents over time where we see it over and over again.”

You can watch the full program here. Click here for more programs at the 9/11 Memorial Museum.

By 9/11 Memorial Staff

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