The Washington PostDemocracy Dies in Darkness

Sports franchises like to talk about family. Here’s an example of acting like one.

Perspective by
Columnist|
April 4, 2020 at 6:33 a.m. EDT
Capital One Arena hasn't hosted an event since the March 12 game between the Capitals and Red Wings was canceled. (Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

Just more than three weeks ago, the Washington Capitals were scheduled to play the Detroit Red Wings at Capital One Arena. A hockey game! What a lovely and quaint concept.

That game — and so many across the country and across sports — was postponed the afternoon of March 12. The Capitals haven’t skated since.

But as the novel coronavirus pandemic alters our lives in so many ways, it’s a reminder that a crisis can reveal something about character. That’s obviously the case with the health-care workers who are risking their own safety to help others as we try to get through this thing. But it pops up in places you might not expect, too.

“Initially, when we found out we weren’t going to be working for March, we were like, ‘Wow, what do we do now?’ ” Deneen Allen said.

Allen is one of 850 part-time workers who staff events at Capital One Arena. She works as a marshal on the event level, helping secure areas off-limits to fans and presenting a smiling face. And last week, Monumental Sports & Entertainment, which owns the Capitals, the Wizards and the arena, answered her question: She would get paid for not working.

“We are just so appreciative,” Allen said.

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These times, they are testing all of us. Monumental CEO Ted Leonsis passed this one — and easily.

“I figured they would take care of full-time employees,” said Kenneth Copeland, who serves as a supervisor during Capital One Arena events. “But I was surprised they extended it to part-time employees — surprised and excited.”

The last Capitals regular season home game was scheduled for Thursday night. The Wizards were supposed to host the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday night and had two more home games before their regular season wrapped up April 15. In all, Monumental said it would pay $1.2 million to those 850 part-time workers, which works out to more than $1,400 per person for hours that just evaporated.

That’s a stimulus check but not from the government. And it matters.

Now, to be clear, Allen and Copeland both said they are equipped to get by without the extra work. Allen, 55, has a full-time job as a program analyst for the federal government. Copeland, 58, retired three years ago from his job at D.C. Superior Court.

“I was more concerned for other people, for co-workers who don’t have other jobs,” Allen said.

That’s the point: concern for other people. This is all complicated, and as wealthy as the people who own professional sports franchises are, they’re not bottomless pits of cash, particularly with the revenue lost from games that aren’t played and seasons that are teetering on the edge of being canceled. There’s uncertainty for all of us.

But what you’re looking for are signs that, through all of this, people are helping each other.

In the early stages of the pandemic, Major League Baseball pledged $1 million per team to cover game-day employees — for a while. The Nationals are using their share to support employees who would have worked this weekend’s scheduled series against the New York Mets — ushers, ticket-takers, etc.

But there are other tentacles, too. A group representing 1,200 folks who work at Nationals Park but are employed by contractors — not the Nationals themselves — held a conference call with reporters Thursday, trying to pressure MLB and the Nationals to pay employees for contractors that staff the ballpark on game days — warehouse employees, concessionaires and the like. The contracted workers at Capital One Arena are in the same situation. There’s no one this virus hasn’t touched, and even if you’re not sick, it can feel impossibly hard.

Pro teams are helping part-time workers, but some who work for arena vendors have been left out

We’re here, though, to look for the good. Thursday was supposed to be the Nationals’ home opener. The team couldn’t play. So it partnered with its flagship radio station, 106.7 the Fan, for a day-long radio drive to pour money into a covid-19 relief fund it established last week with $100,000. General Manager Mike Rizzo opened the morning by saying he would match every dollar listeners donated during the 9 a.m. hour with “The Junkies.” Manager Dave Martinez called in with a $7,500 gift. Max Scherzer announced on “Grant & Danny” that he would give $100,000.

By the end of the day, listeners had called in with more than $32,000 in donations to the Nats4Good Community Response Fund, money that will be doled out to groups such as 4P Foods, which is leading a coalition of groups that is supporting local farms and businesses so the food supply chain can hold up.

“We stand at the ready to give again,” Tal Alter, the CEO of Washington Nationals Philanthropies, wrote in an open letter.

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The easy thing is to say, “They should do more.” But know that not all teams are handling things this way. The Boston Bruins reduced pay for 82 full-time associates and placed another 68 employees on leave. That’s just an example.

Back to our workers at Capital One Arena. There will be no Capitals playoff games for the foreseeable future, games that would have brought more income. Who knows when the next event will be held there?

“I’m sitting here watching television,” Copeland said by phone from his home in Upper Marlboro. “They’re talking about baseball going to be extended out, and who knows about basketball and hockey? It would be nice to see everyone again, just to give each other a hug.”

Copeland has worked at the arena since it opened in 1997 as MCI Center. Allen began working there just six years ago, but she feels the same sense of community.

“The Capital One employees are a family,” Allen said. “This situation is difficult emotionally as well as financially. But what Mr. Leonsis did alleviates some of the stress on the financial part, and we’re grateful. But we miss each other. To not see these people that you generally see at least 20 times out of a month?”

None of us can see all the people we want to right now. And these teams, they will come under more pressure to give the longer this crisis goes on. But at the start — and quickly — Leonsis and his partners did the right thing. That matters.

Coronavirus: What you need to know

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