COVID-19: U.S. public opinion on sports teams firing part-time staff as of March 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic that spread across the world at the beginning of 2020 was not only a big threat to public health, but also to the entire sports industry. Several professional sports leagues, including the NBA and NHL, as well as most professional soccer leagues in Europe, took the decision to postpone or suspend their seasons in order to mitigate the spread of the disease. This unprecedented step has had huge financial implications for many professional teams who have had to come to a decision about what to do with their employees. During a March 2020 survey, some 25 percent of respondents stated that they would have a much less favorable view of a professional sports team that decided to lay off part-time and hourly workers.