Dallas Mavericks Reimburse Employees Who Eat Locally

Dallas Mavericks owner, Mark Cuban, has announced the Mavericks will reimburse employees who purchase breakfast or lunch at independent establishments in the Dallas area.

The decision is in an effort to support local businesses adversely impacted by the COVID-19 (Coronavirus), along with employees, following the City of Dallas announcing all restaurants can only remain open to offer take-away and drive through services to customers.

Cuban said in a statement the idea came from a tweet from CivicScience encouraging employees to support their local community with the incentive of “providing full reimbursement during the work week for coffee and lunch purchases from independent local establishments in our region.”

“At a time when people may feel the financial strain of business closures, social distancing and more, supporting our local community is even more important,” Cuban said.

“While encouraging my team to take care of themselves and those around them and to use healthy practices, I also encourage them to support our local North Texas businesses, and I am happy to partner with Dallas Mavericks staff to do so,” he said.

The announcement about reimbursing employees for eating locally came only minutes after Cuban re-tweeted CivicScience’s tweet, adding that his other businesses are also implemented a similar policy.

The move sees Cuban further cement himself as an innovator in sports business for how he has managed the developing crisis, as he was one of the first sports team owners to recognise the need to support employees and local businesses the moment the NBA season was suspended.

Cuban immediately announced the Mavericks would pay hourly staff at the American Airlines Center in full for the six Mavericks home games that would have taken place during the league’s minimum 30-day hiatus.