Coronavirus Wreaks Havoc As MLS Releases 20% Employees Midway Through The Season: The USA based league becomes the latest competition to suffer the financial brunt of COVID
With a second wave of Coronavirus disrupting USA and the remainder of the world, financial dilemma akin to June and July is once again making a foray into the sporting world. With spectators not being allowed into stadiums as lockdowns are reinforced across the world, clubs have continued bleeding money as match day revenues continue to dwindle.
The MLS has not been adverse to the situation either with the USA based league becoming the latest competition to announce a slew of measures to navigate its way around the situation. Despite returning for a MLS Is Back tournament earlier in July in Orlando before subsequently commencing the 2020-21 season in August, the league has failed to generate sufficient money.
MLS Announces 20% Jobs Cut
With losses envisaged to hit the $1 billion mark, the league has decided to rope in cost saving cuts to plug the gaping holes. And the biggest sufferers are 70 employees at the league’s New York office with the league’s governing council deciding to release 20% of its employees at its headquarters.
The latest development joins a string of measures being adopted including a 25% pay cut for the senior team announced way back in April. The league is also eyeing delaying its new season till as long as April 2021 in a bid to allow the longest leeway plausible for supporters to return to the stadium.
European Leagues Find Themselves In A Similar Quandary
With countries like Germany, France, Italy and the UK all being battered by a bevy of Coronavirus cases, the major European leagues find themselves in the same soup as the MLS.
After the Bundesliga, Serie A and some European countries had allowed 25% spectators for international matches, all the countries and leagues have had to rollback their decision as lockdown returns to their land.
Its led to a fresh string of job cutting and cost cutting measures in a bid to mitigate the ever increasing monetary losses being suffered by the leagues. With their being no foreseeable timeline on the COVID vaccination, the sporting fraternity awaits a gloomy and bleak period for the next couple of months.
