ANTHONY GETTINO
Assistant Sports Editor
During these trying times, many people are stuck at home, unable to work due to the coronavirus. Anyone deemed nonessential hasn’t been getting paid nearly as much as they were, if at all. This is true in the different sports leagues, as workers at the facilities where teams play haven’t been getting paid.
Different players across the sports world have been helping out all over, though.
In the NBA, many players have been donating certain amounts of money to facility workers so they do not starve, including Zion Williamson, Bradley Beal, Kevin Love and Giannis Antetokounnmpo, among others.
NBA stars aren’t the only players donating to the part-time facility workers, as many MLB players have also started to help out workers at their team’s stadiums. Freddie Freeman of the Atlanta Braves and George Springer of the Houston Astros are some of the players who have spoken up about donations they have given toward the part-time staff.
The part-time facility workers aren’t the only people that are struggling right now. Many food shelters have more people than they can handle in need of assistance to survive, and different sports leagues and players have taken notice.
The MLB has pledged $1 million in emergency food services across the country. Many past and current NBA players have also donated funds, including Anthony Davis, Karl Anthony Towns, Jeremy Lin and Rudy Gobert.
Many of these players are donating these portions of money, knowing that their own salaries are going to be affected by the fallout of the coronavirus, as most, if not all, major sporting leagues across the world are either cutting salaries as a whole until sports resume or are at least minimizing the amount they will be playing out to the players.
Some notable soccer stars have already gotten ahead of the ball on this by taking pay cuts willingly. Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are just two of the many soccer stars to do this, with the duo taking a total of $75 million off of their pay reportedly. The entire FC Barcelona team took a 70 percent pay cut, while Juventus took a 30 percent cut on their salaries.
What these different players and leagues are doing is very selfless and is what the world needs right now. If more players from other sporting leagues, such as the NFL, were to start donating to relief funds as well, many people would benefit from it, but the fact that so many have done this out of their own volition says a lot already.