Washington Capitals owner Ted Leonsis will pay part time workers for any missed events in March and April at Capital One Arena.
Washington Capitals owner Ted Leonsis, also the CEO of Monumental Sports and Entertainment which owns the NBA’s Washington Wizards and WNBA’s Washington Mystics is pledging to pay his part time employees through the end of April.
The payments equaled around $1.2 million, per an estimate from Leonsis. Leonsis recently spoke at a webinar with the Economics Club of Washington D.C. and felt it was important that part time employees such as the ushers, game day security, ticket takers, and concession workers make what they would’ve made for that particular game day.
As we all know, hockey and sports are in a pause right now due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. It’s great to see someone else with the Caps take the charge to give back to the community, especially when it happens to be the team owner.
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Leonsis told Malika Andrews of ESPN.com:
"“I felt that it was the right thing to do, to pay our part-time employees that signed up to work in March and April. It’s not an advance to them. When they come back, they’ll sign up to staff the new games and we’ll pay them there.”"
The good news is there hasn’t been any layoffs or furloughs for any of the full time employees at Monumental. It’s also a great gesture from Ted taking care of his part time workers.
Leonsis hopes sports comes back soon even if it means being played without fans but he also hopes fans will be allowed back on a full time basis and not a restricted one. Teams like the Carolina Hurricanes are looking to go the restricted route.
Leonsis is a successful owner and businessman who’s already tasted championship level success with his Capitals and Mystics. Now he’s helping out in the community like a true champion and many Capitals players have followed his lead.
Some are helping first responders like Garnet Hathaway. Others like Braden Holtby are donating meals. Alex Ovechkin helped donate masks through CCM and is joining forces with Wayne Gretzky to raise money to charities in Edmonton and Washington.
It’s monumental efforts, no pun intended, to come together to help one another during this novel coronavirus pandemic. Stick tap to those in the Capitals who have given back and a big one to Leonsis for helping out the arena workers.
For more information about COVID-19, visit the CDC’s website or the website for your state’s Department of Health.