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Not a big news flash or anything, but all 30 owners came together to commit $1 million each for their ballpark workers, left idle by the coronavirus delay to the season.
NEWS: Each of the 30 Major League Baseball teams will commit $1 million to ballpark employees who would not have been paid due to the coronavirus crisis causing the postponement of the baseball season until at least mid-May. Story filed to ESPN and coming soon.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) March 17, 2020
Baseball is the first sport to have its owners come together to pledge, collectively, money to all its stadium workers.
This follows on the heels of Jerry Reinsdorf’s Bulls (and Rocky Wirtz’s Blackhawks) agreeing to pay their United Center staff through the end of the regular season.
Hat tip to players like the New Orleans Pelicans’ Zion Williamson and Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo pledging $100,000 apiece for their own teams’ employees to provide a jump-start to this process.
In the baseball world, it’s been an open secret that the Tampa Bay Rays are continuing to pay their players (which they are not legally obligated due to the coronavirus spread being deemed a national crisis) and giving every minor leaguer an $800 payment to deal with moving and living expenses due to the postponements.