Kobe Bryant memorial: Start time, how to watch and stream
The lives of Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna will be celebrated at a public memorial service in downtown Los Angeles.
Kobe and Gigi Bryant memorial service
Date: Monday, Feb. 24
Time: 10 a.m. Pacific (1 p.m. Eastern)
Where: Staples Center, Los Angeles
TV: Fox29, ESPN, NBA TV
The lives of Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna will be celebrated by thousands in a public memorial service in downtown Los Angeles a little less than a month after they and seven others died in a helicopter crash.
Details remain scarce about the “Celebration of Life for Kobe & Gigi Bryant," which was set to begin at 10 a.m. Pacific (1 p.m. Eastern) inside the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles, where Bryant led the Lakers to five NBA championships.
“It’s going to be hard for the city to move on,” NBA Hall of Famer Magic Johnson said Sunday night. "… it’s hard in a two-minute, five-minute time to say everything that he meant to the world, to the NBA, to basketball fans, because he’s just bigger than life. It’ll take a long year to get over his passing and [his] daughter and the seven other people who lost their lives as well.”
Thousands are expected to attend the service, but tickets are required for entry and there will be no monitors outside the arena showing the celebration. Instead, officials urge those without tickets to watch the service at home on TV.
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In a fitting nod to Bryant’s focus on basketball, the service will be sandwiched by two NBA games: The Lakers defeated the Boston Celtics last night at the Staples Center, while the Los Angeles Clippers will face off against the Memphis Grizzlies there Monday night, just hours after the service.
Here’s everything you need to know to watch and stream Bryant’s memorial service:
What time does the Kobe Bryant memorial start?
The celebration begins at 10 a.m. Pacific (1 p.m. Eastern) on Monday, Feb. 24. from inside the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles. It is expected to last three hours, and conclude by 1 p.m. Pacific (4 p.m. Eastern)
Monday’s date was chosen because Bryant wore the No. 24 during the final 10 years of his NBA career, while Gianna wore the No. 2 during her youth basketball games.
“#2, #24 #20 years as a Laker and the amount of years Kob and I were together,” Bryant’s wife Vanessa wrote on Instagram earlier this month in an announcement of today’s event.
How can I watch or stream the memorial service?
Fans in Philadelphia who want to tune in live can watch the service in its entirety on Fox29, which is breaking into its normal programming to carry the event. Both ESPN and NBA TV will also air the ceremony live.
» READ MORE: Los Angeles honors Kobe, Gianna Bryant with public memorial at Staples Center
Several news networks — including CNN, ABC, and NBC News — will stream the event on their respective websites and mobile apps. You can also stream it live here, courtesy of USA Today:
Who will be speaking at the memorial?
As of Monday morning, no schedule or list of speakers has been released. According to multiple reports, a list of potential speakers could include Johnson, NBA commissioner Adam Silver, former Lakers general manager Jerry West, and Bryant’s longtime teammate Shaquille O’Neal, among others.
There will be no processional, as Kobe and Gianna were quietly buried in a private service on Feb. 7 in Corona Del Mar, Calif.