MSG, James Dolan Family Foundation Donate $1M Each to Event Staff During Hiatus

Mark Lennihan/Associated Press

Madison Square Garden Company staff has been informed they will be paid through May 3 amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Furthermore, Ian Begley of SNY reported Saturday donations of $1 million apiece were made by MSG and the Dolan Family Foundation along with $300,000 from the MSG management team.

Madison Square Garden had previously committed to paying employees through March 29 or April 5 with sports leagues throughout the United States delayed indefinitely because of COVID-19.

"It's very frustrating, a lot of folks are scared about how they are going to pay their bills, how they're going to pay their families," MSG food vendor Gerard Cerda told Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News last week. "People are very, very concerned."

Along with the Garden, the home of the NBA's Knicks and NHL's Rangers, MSG owns several venues around the country, including the Hulu Theater, Radio City Music Hall and Beacon Theatre in New York, and the Chicago Theatre.

Entertainment venues are facing the same financial challenges as sports arenas, with performances canceled because of the ban on large gatherings as part of an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19.

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