Source: Sacramento Republic FC furloughs more than half of staff amid COVID-19 losses
Sacramento Republic FC announced major staff reductions Thursday, becoming the latest local sports franchise to cut its workforce due to revenue losses associated with the coronavirus pandemic, a team source told The Sacramento Bee.
Republic president Ben Gumpert informed employees the team is furloughing some workers and reducing hours for others, including executives, the source said. The changes will impact more than half the team’s full-time employees, which number in the 50s, the source said.
The Republic, a USL Championship team that will move to Major League Soccer in 2022, opened its season with a 1-1 draw against FC Tulsa on March 7 at Papa Murphy’s Park in Sacramento before the coronavirus outbreak shut down the sports world. The league postponed its season days later, resulting in revenue losses that are still mounting.
The USL Championship Board of Governors and the USL Players Association have voted to resume the season with a provisional start date set for July 11, but schedules, stadium access and other details have not been finalized. The league has indicated teams will resume play at home stadiums in their own communities rather than bubble-city settings in outside markets, but it remains unclear when spectators will be allowed to attend.
The Republic is not the first Sacramento team to implement staff reductions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The River Cats, a Triple-A baseball team in the Pacific Coast League, laid off two-thirds of their full-time staff in April, leaving the organization with 20 staffers working reduced hours. The Kings announced in May they would furlough about 100 employees for four months beginning June 1, impacting about 34 percent of the team’s full-time workforce.
This story was originally published June 19, 2020 at 1:39 PM with the headline "Source: Sacramento Republic FC furloughs more than half of staff amid COVID-19 losses."
