Pegulas promise to pay arena employee wages for canceled games

The suspension of professional sports around the country has caused a panic among game-day staff who will lose a paycheck. Players are stepping up to donate their money towards the wages of the arena employees, while many owners remain silent.

Four days after the suspensions of the NHL, AHL, and NLL, Pegula Sports & Entertainment released a statement, which included their plans to pay their employees if games are eventually canceled.

PSE owns the Rochester Americans and Knighthawks, as well as the Buffalo Sabres and Bills.

“Concerns regarding the coronavirus (COVID-19) are driving uncertainty and stress in many workplaces, and our employees are no exception. The health and wellness of our employees and our community as a whole are our number one priority. We have given considerable thought to the many different factors playing into the current situation, and Terry and I have made the following decisions:

• Beginning on Monday, March 16, employees across all of our companies have been given the option to work from home, with some very limited exceptions. We will continue to monitor the situation and assess this policy on a weekly basis based on the unique operations of each entity.

• All business travel, domestic and international is currently prohibited for our employees.

• We will continue to educate staff on the warning signs and to follow the suggestions of the CDC to provide a safe workplace.

• Our gameday employees at the arenas in Buffalo and Rochester will be paid for any lost wages due to regular season game cancellations. They are part of our PSE family and even though we expect that the games will be played, we want to assure them they will be paid in the event that is not the case. We are grateful for the gestures from our players, staff and the Buffalo Sabres Foundation who have all offered to step up in a time of need.

This is an extremely difficult period of time for everyone. We urge our entire community to follow the CDC guidelines and the direction of our government agencies. These uncertain times have placed a lot of stress on our employees and we want to assure them we are doing whatever we feel is necessary to provide a safe and healthy workplace. We also want to thank our fans for their patience, understanding and support.”