Los Angeles sports teams donate $11 million to wildfire relief efforts

LOS ANGELES - Twelve Los Angeles pro sports teams on Monday pledged to donate a combined US$8 million (S$11 million) to support victims of the Los Angeles wildfires and those fighting the blazes.

Angel City FC, the Angels, Chargers, Clippers, Dodgers, Ducks, Galaxy, Kings, LAFC, Lakers, Rams and Sparks will make contributions to the American Red Cross, Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation and other relief organisations, they said.

The teams and Fanatics, the sports apparel and Fan Gear Store, will also distribute US$3 million worth of sports merchandise to Angelenos who have been evacuated from their homes and distribute personal hygiene kits, school supplies, sneakers and more at relief sites around the city.

Dangerously high winds were expected to return to Los Angeles on Jan 13, jeopardising efforts to contain two massive wildfires that have levelled whole neighbourhoods, claimed the lives of at least two dozen people and burned an area the size of Washington.

The fires last week forced the National Football League’s (NFL) wildcard playoff game between the Rams and Vikings, due to be played later on Jan 13, to be moved from SoFi Stadium in Inglewood to Glendale, Arizona and postponed games for the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) Lakers and Clippers.

Both NBA teams were scheduled to host games in Los Angeles on Jan 13 night, their first since the fires broke out on Jan 7.

Lakers head coach J.J. Redick, whose home in the Pacific Palisades was lost in the fire last week, said the franchise would do its part to help the city rebuild.

"We are committed as ever to Los Angeles," Redick said.

"We recognise it's not just our community that has been impacted by this. We're committed to helping people as much as we can and we're going to do that." REUTERS