The list of teams and players who have vowed to help support arena workers who will lose wages during the NBA’s hiatus continues to grow. Here are several of the updates from the couple days:
- The Bulls‘ ownership group, along with United Center ownership, announced that it will pay day-of-game employees through the remained of the originally scheduled season. The Nets issued a press release indicating they’ll do the same for hourly employees who worked games and events at Barclays Center. A team official said the Sixers are doing so too, tweets John Clark of NBC Sports Philadelphia.
- The Spurs announced the formation of a fund totaling $500K+ that will be used to pay its part-time employees through the rest of the season. The Hornets also established a fund to assist the organization’s part-time employees who had been scheduled to work Hornets and Greensboro Swarm games through the end of their respective seasons.
- The Nuggets‘ ownership group pledged to pay its part-time and hourly employees for the next 30 days, per a press release.
- Madison Square Garden has committed to paying event-driven employees, including those who work at Knicks games, through March 22 and is working to come up with a longer-term plan, per a memo obtained by Ian Begley of SNY.tv. The Suns, meanwhile, are paying their employees who were scheduled to work their two home games in March, noting that the staffing for their four home games in April hadn’t yet been finalized.
- The Raptors said in a press release that they have joined forces with Toronto’s other sports franchises to create a fund for arena and stadium workers. “Being a good teammate means looking out for our neighbours, friends and the people we work with,” Raptors president Masai Ujiri said in a statement. “Through this fund, we all pledge to be good teammates to our arena, stadium and support staff. We want to be here for them, the way they are always here for us.”
- Following the lead of stars Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton, the rest of the Bucks‘ roster has also committed to making donations to impacted Fiserv Forum workers, per the team (Twitter link). Magic center Mohamed Bamba vowed to do the same for Amway Center employees (Twitter link).
- Timberwolves big man Karl-Anthony Towns is making a $100K donation as well, but his money will be going to the Mayo Clinic, which is rolling out a test to detect the virus that causes COVID-19. “My hope is that we can fight this virus quicker and more efficiently by increasing the testing capabilities and availability and Mayo Clinic’s overall COVID-19 response,” Towns tweeted.
And still nothing from Jim Dolan and MSG about paying it’s hourly workers.
Some of this funding motivation is informed by helping the help so they don’t Gobertize, but way to help against the problem KA Towns!
Don’t know ab0ut you guys but were I live, there is a huge food & panic crisis, my believe is that if nothing changes more people will die of hunger than the virus, the shops are empty of basics, even the wholesalers are getting empty & in public places people is stealing the toilet roll… crazy things happening, BTW we have hardly any cases of the virus, all school kids from a private school, go figure… but the panic & hoarding of food that is a real crisis!
Here too. I’m guessing much like everywhere else, TP can’t be found; heard individuals saying they’re taking it from hotel rooms. Store shelves are somewhat empty depending on what aisle you go down. I’ve witnessed restocking of them, but I wouldn’t think it’s too sustainable if it keeps on being picked over as soon as it gets there.
My Granny, having lived through the Great Depression and WW2, always said that she didn’t think people would make it these days if faced with a great crisis due to not being able to or wanting to sacrifice and do without in order to help everyone out as they did in those times. I hope we prove her wrong…
I’ve been getting out to document all this: pics at grocery stores, vacant places, saving articles etc.. Hopefully we all remember this very clearly and learn.
There are 0 reported cases in my city…
Great post Major, good to know that is not just in my place people gone insane, though sad to see that all civilization seems to be falling apart.
Shelves are empty, is it time to eat the rich yet?