Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic in baseball, one of the biggest fights for MLB teams has been paying staff throughout the pause. The Miami Marlins were fighting that fight without interruption but things have now taken a change.
Not too long ago Marlins CEO Derek Jeter said he would forgo his $5 million salary. Other top execs also said they would either forgo or reduce their salaries to help pay baseball operations staff. Now, the organization has decided to furlough 90 to 100 baseball operations employees beginning June 1.
The club has agreed to pay staff through the month of May. They are also set to cover health benefits through October. Any further changes will be made on a monthly basis. This comes after the Marlins decided to furlough their business operations department back in April.
Looking to Turn Over a New Leaf
This was set to be an important season for the Fish as they looked to showcase some of the high valued young prospects. Fans all across MLB were looking forward to what might come out of prospects like Lewis Brinson, Jazz Chisholm, and JJ Bleday. This was the year where a few of those high-valued youngsters were set to make big-league appearances and bring them out of the dark ages.
The organization itself is looking to escape a decade worth of losing seasons with no sniff of the postseason. That in part led to consistently low attendance numbers for several years and just $72 million in local revenue last year. On top of that, the Fish also operates with one of the worst reported TV deals across the league. A TV deal that was worth $1 billion, the lowest mark across the entire league according to Forbes.com. That deal pays the Miami Marlins just $15-20 million per year. That deal is currently set to expire following the 2020 season. But the team is negotiating a new deal with Fox Sports.
Every team across the league is dealing with financial struggles due to COVID-19. This latest announcement has shown that even the Marlins can only go so long.
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