{"id":157713,"date":"2020-12-22T05:30:00","date_gmt":"2020-12-22T13:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/calmatters.org\/?post_type=tnp_long_form&p=157713"},"modified":"2026-03-27T08:54:43","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T15:54:43","slug":"sports-without-fans-lost-jobs","status":"publish","type":"tnp_long_form","link":"https:\/\/calmatters.org\/_zh\/projects\/sports-without-fans-lost-jobs\/","title":{"rendered":"Empty seats mean empty wallets for thousands of sports arena workers"},"content":{"rendered":"

As basketball season opens with no fans, Californians who work at ballparks, arenas and stadiums are out of work.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For 21 years, Monica Corona has served food and drinks at Oakland Arena during concerts and basketball games, rising in the ranks to concessions lead and even recruiting her three sons to work there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But since March, there have been no fans for them to serve. Corona and her sons joined an estimated 2,900 stadium workers in the Bay Area placed on furlough, according to union estimates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The family has struggled to make ends meet off of unemployment benefits and Corona\u2019s husband\u2019s salary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even more devastating would be the potential loss of health benefits. Because her healthcare is tied to working the previous season, Corona\u2019s coverage is set to expire in February. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m not going to be able to afford anything that\u2019s out there,\u201d she said. \u201cI just don\u2019t know what I\u2019ll do without having medication for my husband, who takes seven pills a day as seizure medicine, and then with my daughter\u2019s asthma medicine also.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019re talking about workers who, because they\u2019re in these communities (of color), maybe have the highest predisposition to testing positive for COVID-19 and actually dying from COVID-19.\u201d<\/p>anand singh, president of unite here local 2<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In California, football games are being played with no fans due to the state\u2019s ban on large events<\/a>. It was the same for soccer this fall. The entire Major League Baseball season \u2014 including playoff games in Los Angeles and San Diego \u2014 was played with no spectators; the Dodgers won their World Series title playing in Texas. And basketball teams played last season\u2019s championship games in a \u201cbubble\u201d in Florida, and this season, which starts today, Lakers, Kings, Warriors and Clippers games will be played in empty stadiums.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anand Singh, president of UNITE HERE Local 2, which represents 1,000 stadium workers at the Giants\u2019 Oracle Park and the Warriors\u2019 Chase Center, said 2020 has exacted an \u201cincredible toll\u201d on employees in the sector. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019re talking about a group of working people that are already kind of living on a razor\u2019s edge in the Bay Area, trying to piece together salaries year round on seasonal sporting events,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re talking about people who are overwhelmingly people of color. You\u2019re talking about workers who, because they\u2019re in these communities, maybe have the highest predisposition to testing positive for COVID-19 and actually dying from COVID-19.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Singh said the fact that these employees are likely to lose their healthcare at this point in the pandemic is illustrative of a \u201cbroken\u201d system of employer-based healthcare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to urging employers to continue health benefits, he said unions will be pushing legislators in Sacramento for \u201cmeaningful and serious health care reform\u201d based on these workers\u2019 experiences. <\/p>\n\n\n\n