Los Angeles Mayor open to parade alternatives for Lakers and Dodgers

After the Los Angeles Lakers won their 17th championship in franchise history earlier this month, fans wanted to celebrate, but the team told them that it would wait for it to be safe to do so, as the coronavirus pandemic is still raging. But now that the Dodgers have joined the Lakers, with the two teams winning a title in the same year for the first time since 1988, the city might explode with pent up joy, and there is increasing political pressure on the Mayor’s office to allow a parade, or some other sort of celebration.

Lakers and Dodgers stars LeBron James and Cody Bellinger led the charge on Twitter on Tuesday night, with both asking to be allowed to do something safe to celebrate their titles.

We broke down why the current Los Angeles County Health Order concerning the coronavirus pandemic makes a traditional parade unlikely in our story on James and Bellinger’s remarks, but on Twitter, Garcetti seemed to suggest he was open to figuring out a way to make some sort of celebration work:

Garcetti later elaborated on his thoughts to Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times:

“I definitely intend to have the opportunity for Angelenos to celebrate the Lakers and, on their own day, the Dodgers,” Mayor Eric Garcetti told The Times late Tuesday night.

How those celebrations might take place is uncertain, with social distancing still mandated as the coronavirus continues its significant spread throughout Southern California. One idea Garcetti threw out: a hilltop reign at Griffith Park.

“Stick them up at the observatory,” he said, “and watch them preside over the town as champions.”

He said he is open to all suggestions, with the Lakers and Dodgers ultimately deciding what fits each team best.

Well, not to correct the mayor, but I personally would not ultimately not be super comfortable deferring to the Dodgers thoughts on safety after, well, this...

... but I digress.

In all seriousness, the main risk with any parade or alternative is drawing a large crowd of people to the same area, even outside, as well enforcing mask usage, the latter of which we’ve seen is not always prevalent at the celebrations that have already happened.

But if the city and teams can figure out a way to make sure both of those issues are taken care of in the middle of a coronavirus case spike in Los Angeles, then it would obviously be wonderful for everyone to get to celebrate this pair of historic championship squads.

We’ll see what they can figure out, if anything, and will cover any developments as we all continue to bask in the glow of these dual titles. Until then, let us know what you’d like to see both teams do in the comments!

For more Lakers talk, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts. You can follow Harrison on Twitter at @hmfaigen.