Kings furlough basketball operations staff as revenue losses mount due to coronavirus
The series of layoffs and furloughs that reduced the workforce within the Kings organization over the past few months has now impacted the team’s basketball operations staff.
Kings interim executive vice president of basketball operations Joe Dumars released a statement Wednesday announcing some employees in basketball operations were furloughed Tuesday due to event cancellations and revenue losses associated with the coronavirus pandemic. Essential basketball operations staff needed to prepare for the upcoming NBA Draft, including members of the front office, analytics and scouting, were not affected, sources said.
Employees who were furloughed this week will continue to receive medical benefits and are tentatively expected to return to work in November, pending further information regarding the start of the 2020-21 season, sources said. The Kings did not specify which positions in the basketball operations department were impacted.
“Given uncertainty about the start of next season due to the ongoing impacts of the pandemic, we have made the difficult decision to furlough a handful of full-time positions across our basketball operations departments primarily around support roles,” Dumars said.
The Kings laid off some workers and extended furloughs for others in July amid growing financial losses and event cancellations due to the coronavirus pandemic. Essential basketball operations personnel were not impacted at that time, including members of the front office, health and performance, and scouting/analytics departments, a source said.
Kings President of Business Operations John Rinehart released a statement explaining the decision was made “as part of the organization’s ongoing evolution of efforts to align with the changes in our business.” Rinehart cited the “continued uncertainty surrounding the resumption of live events at Golden 1 Center resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Concerts, sporting events and other functions at the downtown arena have been postponed or canceled since the NBA season was suspended March 11. It remains unclear when NBA basketball and other events will return to the arena.
In May, the Kings informed about 100 employees they would be furloughed for four months beginning June 1, affecting more than one-third of the team’s full-time workforce. The July cutbacks impacted a portion of those workers, some of whom were laid off while others had their furloughs tentatively extended to Nov. 1, Rinehart said.
All previously furloughed full-time employees impacted by the workforce reduction were offered a tenure-based severance and benefits package good for a minimum of four weeks and a maximum of 52 weeks, a source said.
The Bee obtained a copy of the email Rinehart sent employees in May. Rinehart explained the sports and entertainment industries have been hit hard by the suspension of NBA play and live events at Golden 1 Center, resulting in “an unprecedented impact on our bottom line” and “significant fiscal uncertainty about the future.”
“Since all live events have been cancelled or postponed in the arena for at least the next several months, we need to reduce our operations to meet our current economic situation,” Rinehart said in the May email. “We delayed this for as long as possible but, unfortunately, the harsh economic realities facing the live sports and entertainment industries were just too much to overcome.”
This story was originally published September 2, 2020 at 4:47 PM.
