Cody Glenn-USA TODAY Sports
The Giants pledged to do more than the $1 million they allotted, along with the rest of baseball, to assist their event staff. Wednesday they provided a first look at how else they will help the folks who financially are being hurt the most by the gates at Oracle Park being locked.
In addition to the million, the Giants ownership board has pledged $700,000 so far — “We expect this amount to increase in the next several weeks,” executive VP Jack Bair said — that will be distributed in two programs, the first to all ballpark event-based employees, the second to the team’s event-based employees.
Because ballpark faces such as concession workers, parking-lot attendants and retail staff work for third parties, they are a quiet group that is being hurt significantly by the repercussions of the coronavirus. Some of that $700,000 will be going to one-time grants of $500 to all ballpark employees, “an emergency fund,” and the team expects nearly 2,000 people of the 2,600 total workers to request it.
It’s not enough for the non-team-employees, but it’s a start. As for the roughly 1,300 who are employed by the Giants — “Everything from our G-Team that pops T-shirts in stands, folks that operate the out-of-town scoreboard, some of our grounds crew,” Bair said on a Wednesday conference call — they will, in addition to the $500 grant, be given $100-250 per month (based on how long they’ve worked there and how many hours they logged last year).
They also are being encouraged to apply for unemployment benefits from California, which range from $50-$450 per week.
“We believe that between our program and unemployment, employees would be in good position relative to what they would have earned if the games were played,” Bair said.
The Giants will continue raising money for the people who are losing more than just happiness without baseball.
“We haven’t reached out to the players yet but we intend to,” CEO Larry Baer said about the donations. “I know some players are working on some of their own programs.”
The outfield wall, bullpen adjustments and fencing down the lines have halted at the moment, but according to Baer, they have the timeline down so “when we know we would have a game at Oracle Park, we would have enough leadtime to perform that work.”
Some of the Mission Rock development has continued because it has been deemed “essential” because it involves affordable housing, Baer said.