Bruins Owner Jeremy Jacobs Shamefully Hasn’t Pledged To Help TD Garden Workers During Coronavirus Outbreak

When the NBA became the first professional sports league to suspend its season due to the coronavirus outbreak, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban immediately pledged to pay hourly employees who will lose wages. To this point, nearly every NBA and NHL organization has pledged to take care of in-game and stadium employees in some manner, though it’s worth noting players took the lead.

But some sports owners, shamefully, have still made no commitment about whether they intend to support their arena’s hourly workers who rely on game-day income to live. One of those culprits is Boston Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs, who owns and operates Delaware North, the ubiquitous food services company that provides concessions at more than 50 sports venues, including the TD Garden. As of publication time, neither Delaware North nor the Bruins have announced plans to compensate their hourly staff. Emails and calls to the Bruins and TD Garden were not returned upon publication.

An email sent to the Celtics, who lease the TD Garden for their home games, was not returned as well.

On Saturday, NBC Sports Boston Bruins reporter Joe Haggerty tweeted “his understanding” is “something is coming” from Delaware North, but did not offer specifics.

Jacobs is one of six NHL owners who still have not announced plans to pay in-game employees, but his case is especially notable, because Bruins players have publicly backed a GoFundMe page to take care of TD Garden workers during these strenuous times. The GoFundMe campaign was up to $32,000 as of Monday afternoon. Its goal is $250,000.

Jacobs, of course, could match that goal without thinking twice. The 80-year-old business titan boasts a net worth of $3.6 billion, good for No. 159 of Forbes’ list for the wealthiest Americans.

There is some bureaucratic red tape that must be cut through in order for sports owners to financially support stadium workers while they’re not working. Not every team owns and operates the arena it plays in, leading to questions about the best ways to proceed.

But as Cuban told the New York Times, those questions are ultimately inconsequential for people with great means. (Cuban’s net worth is pegged at $4.3 billion.)

“There’s issues of payroll taxes. Do you pay the payroll taxes if they don’t work?” he told the Times’ Sopan Deb. “There’s issues of, ‘What happens if the games are actually played in the future? Do we pay them twice?’ I personally don’t care. That’s fine.”

The New Orleans Pelicans are hiding behind one of those excuses to explain their lack of commitment towards the employees at Smoothie King Center. While 19-year-old rookie sensation Zion Williamson has promised to cover lost wages for all of the arena’s workers for 30 days, the Pelicans say they are “engaging” with the owners of the building, ASM New Orleans, to “determine what the team could do through ASM New Orleans to assist their employees.”

How about paying them? Pelicans owner Gayle Benson, who inherited the Pelicans and Saints from her husband, Tom, is worth $3.2 billion.

But Jacobs can’t even hide his apparent lack of generosity behind weak excuses about not owning his team’s building, because, well, he does. The Jacobs family also unilaterally owns and operates Delaware North, which has not announced a plan to take care of its many employees who work in arena concession stands across the country.

The decision of every sports league to suspend play indefinitely due to the coronavirus will carry severe economic repercussions. Gate revenue won’t exist for months; TV networks are without programming. But the leagues’ billionaire owners will be able to survive the hit. TV network executives don’t have to worry about making rent.

The worst economic casualties of this public health crisis are those who work hourly wage jobs. Without work, they don’t get paid. In order to reduce the rapid spread of COVID-19, medical professionals say it is imperative we all practice social distancing, even those who do not possess a high-risk of contracting the virus. We stay isolated to protect the most vulnerable among us, such as the sick and elderly.

The same all-in mentality should apply to our nation’s low-wage workers. That is why Vice President Mike Pence is beginning to sound like Bernie Sanders, touting the benefits of paid sick leave, and Mitt Romney is advocating for every American to receive a check for $1,000. A pandemic is no time for ideology, and certainly no time for greed.

And yet, some billionaire business moguls are asking their own employees to take brutal economic hits. Sir Richard Branson asked Virgin Airlines employees to take eight weeks of unpaid vacation, and has rightfully been excoriated.

As owner and operator of a major stadium food service provider and arena, Jacobs possesses the power to ease the hardship of thousands of people. It’s shameful he hasn’t.