With pro sports on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic, fallback continues, especially in the direction of those whose job is to write or talk about sports. Here’s the New York Post reporting:
ESPN is asking its top 100 on-air personalities to take a 15-percent pay cut for the next three months — Stephen A. Smith, Scott Van Pelt and Dick Vitale are among those who have agreed, The Post has learned.
ESPN executives are selling the idea to its highest paid employees, like Smith, Van Pelt and Mike Greenberg, that taking the temporary pay cut will help others keep their paychecks during the coronavirus pandemic.
“We are asking about 100 of our commentators to join with our executives and take a temporary salary reduction,” ESPN said in a statement. “These are challenging times, and we are all in this together.”
And here’s Deadline.com reporting:
Pay cuts and furloughs have been moving across Disney divisions. On March 30, Disney told its staff that executive chairman Bob Iger will forgo his entire salary, that new CEO Bob Chapek will take a 50% pay cut, and that other executives would see reductions on a sliding scale as of April 5. VPs, SVPs, and EVPs and above were in for cuts of, respectively, 20%, 25% and 30%.
Then on April 2 the giant conglom announced it would furlough all employees whose jobs “weren’t immediately necessary” as of April 19, although it would continue to provide health benefits and pay premiums.
This isn’t surprising at all. Many companies are being forced to take similar actions, or to cut some jobs altogether.
