HeadCount wants everyone registered to vote, regardless of political partyHeadCount

Monumental Sports & Entertainment is encouraging voter registration through a recently announced partnership with nonprofit HeadCount. Representatives from HeadCount will be stationed at tabling locations in Capital One Arena for concerts and all pre-season, regular-season and postseason games for the Capitals, Wizards and Mystics. The effort officially launched last Thursday with a Mystics game.

SOURCES OF INSPIRATION: MSE President/External Affairs & Chief Administrative Officer Monica Dixon said MSE’s motivation for participating stems from its players’ reactions to George Floyd’s murder in 2020. “It’s very inspiring when athletes use their voice for such important causes, and we just want to be right there with them and support them with this commitment,” said Dixon. HeadCount co-founder & Exec Dir Andy Bernstein said, “We want everyone to vote.” He added, “We’re very nonpartisan. It’s the first question that people always ask. We don’t care who people vote for. We’ll do this in red states, blue states, purple states. It doesn’t matter.”

MATCHMAKING: After HeadCount participated in the NHL’s All-Star weekend in Las Vegas earlier this year, the league invited them to present to all 32 teams. That is where, through the Capitals, HeadCount became connected with MSE. On deciding to work with MSE, Bernstein said, “They were the most ready because they have the WNBA season going on. They actually had programming for the summer in the form of the WNBA team and an entire concert schedule.” Regarding what stood out about HeadCount, Dixon said, “They’ve done a lot of great work with various music artists on this topic, and they are used to working in arenas.”

One of the tabling locations inside Capital One Arena for the partnership’s launch during a Mystics game last weekHeadCount

LOOKING FORWARD: Bernstein said HeadCount views this initial partnership with MSE as “proof of concept,” and the company’s hope is to “expand this to include many other teams across all various pro sports leagues.” Bernstein: “Concerts and festivals have been our primary focus, but people are people, and the same tactics that work at concerts and festivals are certainly going to work at pro sports events.” For MSE, Dixon said, “The most important thing is to honor what our players started two years ago, and to continue that commitment on their behalf.” She added, “This first year, we really want to get a sense of how engaging people at the games and concerts works. Then, we’ll have a better sense of what kind of metrics that we should be getting for a program like this.”