KCRW Reports
Kobe Bryant memorial Feb. 24: What you need to know
February 24 will be the memorial for Kobe Bryant at the Staples Center. The event is restricted to ticket holders who snagged one of the 20,000 seats. Officials are urging everyone else to watch from work or home.
By Evan George • • 2 min readFor weeks, Los Angeles has been mourning the death of Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna, and seven others who died in that January helicopter crash.
Now that collective grief will take center stage at Staples Center on Monday, February 24 for a final memorial service.
The event is restricted to ticket holders who snagged one of the 20,000 seats. Officials are urging everyone else to watch from work or home.
“We hope that everybody heeds the message, and they stay either in their offices surrounded by their friends, or at home with their family or loved ones,” Staples Center President Lee Zeidman said. “Because it's going to be a very emotional memorial for that day and we want people to be able to enjoy it.”
Schedule at the Staples Center
8 AM: Doors open to the Staples Center.
9:45 AM: Ticket holders must be seated.
10 AM: Ceremony begins.
The memorial will end in time for a 7:30 PM Clippers vs. Memphis Grizzlies game at the Staples Center.
There will be no organized funeral procession following the ceremony, like the one held after Nipsey Hussle’s memorial at the Staples Center.
How to watch if you can’t be at the Staples Center
CBS News will live stream the memorial on Monday. Watch here:
Yahoo Sports will also have a live web stream.
ABC News Live will provide commercial-free streaming that starts at 9:30 AM PT on Roku, Hulu, Xumo, Sling TV, Facebook Watch, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV and the ABC News mobile app.
Major TV networks are expected to broadcast the ceremony too.
The TV screens outside of L.A. Live will not be displaying the ceremony.
Street closures
According to a representative at Staples Center, these streets will be closed:
- Figueroa Street to LA Live
- Georgia Street to Chick Hearn Court
Open: major streets, such as Pico and Olympic Boulevards, near the arena.
Doing good
Ticket proceeds will be donated to the Mamba and Mambacita Sports Foundation, Bryant’s nonprofit that provides sports education to underserved communities and sports training to young women.
Tickets went from $24.02 to $224 each.
The president of the Staples Center announced that all perishable items left outside the center in honor of Bryant will be composted and spread around the plants in and around L.A. Live/Staples Center.
Why the 2-24-20 date?
This date is based on Gianna Bryant’s jersey number (#2) and Kobe Bryant’s jersey number (#24). The 20 coincides with the number of years Kobe was married to his wife, Vanessa, as well as the number of years he played for the Lakers.
Vanessa Bryant posted on her Instagram that the memorial will be “A Celebration of Life.”
View this post on Instagram
#2, #24, #20 years as a Laker and the amount of years Kob and I were together ❤️❤️💜💛
A post shared by Vanessa Bryant 🦋 (@vanessabryant) on Feb 7, 2020 at 9:49am PST
KCRW will be covering the memorial on Monday. You can hear updates on “Greater LA” at 1:00 PM, and follow us on social media.
--Written by Evan George and Amy Ta
