MSG Will Pay Venue Workers Through May 3, Have Established Relief Fund For Employees In Need
Madison Square Garden has notified event staff workers that they will receive checks through May 3 at a minimum according to Ian Begley of SNY.
In note sent to event staff, MSG said it will pay workers at its multiple venues at minimum thru 5/3. A relief fund has also been established to help employees in need w/$1 million donation from MSG, $1 million from Dolan Family Foundation and $300,000 from MSG management team.
— Ian Begley (@IanBegley) March 28, 2020
A $2.3 million fund has also been setup to assist employees in need. There are a number of venues under the MSG banner including The Garden, the Hulu Theater at MSG, the Beacon Theatre, the Chicago Theatre, the Forum (which is being sold to Steve Ballmer), and Radio City Music Hall which is a Tishman Speyer property operated by the Madison Square Garden company.
While no plans for beyond 5/3 have been announced, this latest report means that employees who were scheduled to work Ranger games for the rest of the season are covered and then some, because there were no guarantees the Rangers were making the playoffs and playing in late April in early May.
But there’s bound to be many employees such as security, ushers, concessions, etc. who work Ranger games who were also scheduled to work at some of the various concerts and other entertainment events which obviously remain up in the air. And then there are all the workers at the other properties who had work on the schedule past 5/3 prior to the COVID-19 crisis.
In the interim though, James Dolan and MSG appear to be doing the right thing by the arena workers, and hopefully it is something that continues. It is unknown how scheduling works for events that were months away that have since been postponed or cancelled, but hopefully these workers are taken care of in some shape or form.
Blueshirt Banter will continue to monitor the ongoing situation for more details, and if you happen to be someone who works at MSG and have additional information that you want to share, feel free to leave a comment, send a private message, or email.
