Yesterday Pegula Sports and Entertainment announced they’ll be implementing layoffs and furloughs for employees during the COVID-19 crisis. A total of 21 people were laid off, 104 furloughed, and top executives would be getting temporary pay cuts.
Pegula Sports & Entertainment announced changes to staffing, including temporary executive salary reductions, 21 layoffs, and 104 furloughs to some of its 3,000 employees due to the COVID-19 pandemic. #Sabres #Bills #Bandits #Amerks pic.twitter.com/rBzTyZJO0B
— Greg Vorse TV (@GregVorse) April 14, 2020
A handful of longtime Buffalo Sabres executives were among the 21 people let go. Chris Bandura (VP of Communications), John Sinclair (VP of Tickets and Service), and Jennifer Van Rysdam (VP of Live Events) are three executives that lost their jobs according to John Vogl of The Athletic.
The story linked above from The Athletic goes into more detail on the changes in the management staff. One interesting thing to note from Tim Graham of The Athletic, is that these 21 layoffs may not be tied to the COVID-19 crisis. Reportedly these executive changes were in the works prior to the NHL season coming to a halt.
I see a lot of reporting that Sabres/Pegula Sports and Entertainment firings are due to the pandemic. That’s false (furloughs, true).
As written in The Satchel when games still were being played, cutbacks across departments already were in the works.https://t.co/ON0v6VJ5XB
— Tim Graham (@ByTimGraham) April 14, 2020
Sabres general manager, Jason Botterill is among those that will see a temporary reduction in salary according multiple reports.
We’ll see if this is it for PSE or if they will make more cutbacks if the COVID-19 crisis starts to impact the NFL season. At this point, the Buffalo Bills are one of PSE entities that has not been impacted.