SALT LAKE CITY — Thanks to generous donations and creative collaboration, the vast Vivint Arena workforce, suddenly off the clock since games and events there were recently postponed, will soon receive financial relief and temporary employment opportunities, multiple sources have told the Deseret News.
A little more than 1,000 part-time arena employees — who make things click for games, concerts and other events — will have extra funds placed in their next paycheck thanks to donations from Gail Miller, the Miller family and Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert, according to sources.
The economic assistance will be distributed equally — an undisclosed amount — to employees in light of the arena’s temporary closure and workers being furloughed because of the coronavirus pandemic, which has led to a suspension of the NBA season and a postponement of scheduled entertainment.
Jazz center Rudy Gobert recently pledged $500,000 in COVID-19-related assistance, including $200,000 to part-time arena employees, days after news broke that he’d contracted COVID-19 earlier this month. In addition, Donovan Mitchell, who also has the virus, donated funds to supply healthy meals to children in the Granite School District while schools are closed during the pandemic.
In another philanthropic gesture, the Millers will more than match Gobert’s $200,000 contribution to assist arena employees, according to sources.
“Our family is grateful for the generosity of our players and their commitment to our community,” Gail Miller, owner and chairman of the Larry H. Miller Group of Companies, told the Deseret News. “Our game night associates at the arena have become like family — many of whom have worked with us since the arena first opened as the Delta Center.”
Sources have said some employees might choose to forgo the assistance to help those in circumstances who need it more. “Our family is grateful for the generosity of our players and their commitment to our community. Our game night associates at the arena have become like family — many of whom have worked with us since the arena first opened as the Delta Center.” — Gail Miller, owner and chairman of the Larry H. Miller Group of Companies
Vivint Arena, owned by the Miller family, also donated 1,000 pounds of food that would have otherwise perished to Catholic Community Services.
In addition, the Larry H. Miller Group of Companies is on the verge of creating a streamlined process that will provide temporary jobs for part-time workers from the arena and the shuttered Megaplex Theatres who are currently out of work because of the COVID-19 crisis. LHM has partnered with the Utah governor’s office, the Utah Department of Workforce Services, retailer associations and a variety of corporations with temporary employment needs to make this makeshift work opportunity happen as soon and smoothly as possible.
“Utah’s spirit of collaboration and innovation is what makes our state unique, especially in times like this,” Utah Lt. Gov. Spencer J. Cox told the Deseret News. “When businesses, like the Larry H. Miller Group of Companies, seek to creatively partner with other businesses, as well as our government providers, we collectively raise the tide to provide opportunities for those who are seeking employment and those who must quickly hire. Any strides we can make to bridge gaps and keep Utahns employed are key to supporting our economy through this unprecedented time.”
A week after the NBA quickly postponed its season, the 16 Megaplex Theatres in Utah and Nevada temporarily suspended operation last Wednesday in adherence to recommendations by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other health safety experts. That left hundreds of employees — in addition to those at the arena — without a source of income.
“In our 20-year history of operating movie theaters, we have never closed, and this has been hard for all of us,” Miller said. “We love our employees and are grateful for their patience as we work through these unprecedented challenges. We look forward to the time when we can all be together again welcoming guests to our arena and theaters.”
Because nobody knows how long social distancing recommendations will be in effect, the LHM organization committed to find an out-of-the-box solution to help part-timers in multiple ways. That includes disbursing financial relief from donations, locating additional employment opportunities, and providing an efficient path toward unemployment funds and services if needed.
The idea is to provide help in any way possible in this unique and difficult crisis.
“As our venues quickly closed over the past week, we have been working hard on innovative solutions for our incredible part-time employees, many of whom rely on the hours they work at the arena and in our theaters,” Jim Olson, president of the Utah Jazz and of LHM Sports and Entertainment, told the Deseret News. “If and where possible, we want to facilitate opportunities to bridge them until Jazz basketball returns and our theaters reopen. Additionally, we are checking in on them regularly to help wherever we can.”
The workforce solution is a new approach — and one that could also help boost Utah’s economy.
In essence, the LHM Group would act as a workforce services company, providing willing associates to companies like Amazon or Smith’s, both of which have publicized the need for an influx in temporary workers. Those companies would pay LHM for the work, and employees would be compensated via their regular paychecks. The service would be free for the employees. When the arena reopens, the employees will return to their previous jobs.
Jon Pierpont, executive director of the Utah Department of Workforce Services, called it “a very innovative and creative approach” that he’s not seen in his 28 years at DWS. He’s hoping other industries and businesses will use it as a model to keep Utahns active in the labor force.
Not only will this approach provide wage-earning opportunities for LHM employees, but it will also ease an immense burden that has been placed on the DWS. The state’s workforce services has been bombarded with unemployment claims in the wake of the coronavirus proliferation and its negative effect on the abruptly battered economy.
“We’ve had a significant amount of UI (unemployment insurance) claims into our system. I don’t think we’ve seen a number as big as this week,” Pierpont said. “If we have employers partnering and working this way from industry to industry, it would prevent people from needing to go on unemployment and would help preserve those funds for people who truly need it.”“Our organization has been focused on developing a plan to help our part-time employees negatively impacted by COVID-19. In the short term, the Miller family’s and Rudy’s generous contributions are helping.” — Steve Starks, CEO of Larry H. Miller Group of Companies
Pierpont noted there are 30,000 jobs currently open via the Department of Workforce Services — accessible through the jobs.utah.gov website — and believes that number could be doubled if more companies would use the state’s system. Although unemployment funds can provide a temporary safety net, workers can earn more money by getting back into the workforce. That’s why Pierpont lauds LHM’s leadership for trying to streamline the process of getting employees back to work.
Pierpont doesn’t see any major obstacles in the way of getting the LHM model up and running in the near future.
“Now it’s just figuring out the mechanics,” he said.
“Our organization has been focused on developing a plan to help our part-time employees negatively impacted by COVID-19. In the short term, the Miller family’s and Rudy’s generous contributions are helping,” Steve Starks, CEO of Larry H. Miller Group of Companies, told the Deseret News. “In addition, we are exploring an innovative partnership with the Department of Workforce Services that would efficiently link our part-time associates to open jobs in the community. This approach would help our employees looking for additional work while also providing access to a great temporary workforce to companies in the state needing immediate help.”
(It’s worth noting, employers and employees outside of the LHM Group of Companies who have been affected by COVID-19 have resources available on the state’s jobs.utah.gov website. Also, it’s recommended that furloughed and laid-off employees seeking unemployment assistance should fill out the online application before calling or visiting the office in person.)
All 30 NBA teams are formulating plans to compensate employees whose wages have been affected by the pandemic, according to a league source that said Utah is moving to financially assist its workers at the same pace as other organizations.
“Utah is doing right by its folks and is stepping up,” a league source familiar with Jazz’s plans told the Deseret News.
The Jazz front office has been in regular contact with NBA commissioner Adam Silver and a variety of branches of the association over the past couple of weeks, working closely with the league to figure out how to best take care of their employees’ health and finances.
Utah’s management has been in a complex situation since its game at Oklahoma City was canceled right before tipoff on March 11 after Gobert’s coronavirus test came back positive. It’s unknown if the All-Star center was the first NBA player to contract the disease, but he became “patient zero” in a sense after being the first athlete from the league publicly named to have been infected.
The ensuing 48 hours were a whirlwind for the Jazz organization as it worked hand in hand with the NBA office, the governor’s office and with health and medical officials while administering coronavirus tests to the traveling party and then coordinating travel plans, the suspension of games and even an in-depth cleaning and sanitization of Vivint Arena.
Though some people have been critical of the Millers not announcing publicly or internally that they would assist their part-time employees at the arena, a source familiar with the situation said the family and organization wanted to make sure all logistics were first in place.
“The Millers wanted to do it the right way,” the source told the Deseret News. “It’s such a dynamic, fluid situation.”
So far, employees — including ushers, those in concessions, vendors, custodial and security and the crew that transitions the hardwood court to a concert floor in the middle of the night — have missed hours from four suspended NBA games (New Orleans, Memphis, the Los Angeles Lakers and Minnesota) and a postponed Post Malone concert that would have taken place Saturday night. Three more concerts scheduled at the arena — Celine Dion (March 26), JoJo Siwa (March 27) and Cher (April 28) — have been postponed. It’s also unknown when or if the 2019-20 NBA season will resume and what will happen to events later in the spring or summer that employees would have worked to put on.
