The entire economy is getting hit by the COVID-19 outbreak, and the sports world is no different, with referees, staffers and other gameday operations workers being hurt by the leagues suspending their play.
It really began blowing up when the NBA announced it would be suspending play for the 2019-20 season, with no word on whether or not there would be playoffs or not.
In the meantime, some workers around the NBA world are out of a job, especially part-timers. Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is taking care of his staffers, though, as he announced those that work in American Airlines Arena and are paid hourly will still continue to be compensated, for at least the next four games.
“I reached out to the folks at the arena and our folks at the Mavs to find out what it would cost to support, financially support, people who aren’t going to be able to come to work,” Cuban said. “They get paid by the hour, and this was their source of income. So, we’ll do some things there. We may ask them to go do some volunteer work in exchange, but we’ve already started the process of having a program in place. I don’t have any details to give, but it’s certainly something that’s important to me.”
“I reached out … to find out what it would cost to financially support people who aren’t going to be able to come to work.”
–Mark Cuban on his plan for Mavericks employees during the NBA suspension pic.twitter.com/McOl1vHUqO
— ESPN (@espn) March 12, 2020
"We have a program where the next four would-have-been Mavs games, we'll pay our hourly employees as if they worked."
—Mark Cuban pic.twitter.com/Fmmj3vETUB
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) March 12, 2020
Awesome gesture by Cuban.
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