Brodie Van Wagenen Doesn’t Find Paying Employees A Priority
With all of pro sports being shut down, the attention has shifted to how are the hourly employees going to earn a living when they can’t show up for work to earn a paycheck.
We’ve seen a number of people step up to try to help those people. In the NBA, Zion Williamson is donating $100,000. This is a gesture matched by Giannis Antetokounmpo and Kevin Love.
NBA owners Mark Cuban (Mavericks), Dan Gilbert (Cavaliers), and Joe Tsai (Nets) will cover the wages for all stadium employees. The New Jersey Devils have done the same. Yahoo has a larger list of NHL teams paying their employees, and Sports Illustrated has the NBA list.
This is far from an exhaustive list especially when you consider the players who are making contributions. Right now, MLB teams are starting to make that assessment themselves.
Naturally, considering how Cuban, perhaps the most famous owner in sports, has stepped up to ensure employees will be paid, this is an issue at the forefront of reporters minds. More than that, it’s on the minds of those workers who desperately need their paychecks and are now not guaranteed to receive them.
Again, it needs to be highlighted this is an extremely important issue, and it’s one at the forefront of everyone’s minds at a time when there are no games being played.
I asked Brodie Van Wagenen if the Mets would be helping their hourly stadium employees with lost compensation because of the delayed season.
He said he did not have that information on hand because his focus has been the health of players, his staff, media, etc.
— Justin Toscano (@JustinCToscano) March 14, 2020
When Mets General Manager Brodie Van Wagenen was asked about it, he said it was not one of the things which has his focus. Specifically, he said:
I don’t have that information at hand. My focus, as you might imagine, has been on our players, our staff and our front office operation here, as well as the fans and the media’s safety here in the immediate term.
There was a world of things Van Wagenen could’ve said.
He could’ve said it’s something they’re discussing internally. He could’ve said he’s aware of the issue, and the Mets aren’t ready to discuss that yet. Really, there are a myriad of viable things Van Wagenen could’ve said.
In the end, Van Wagenen went with he’s not focused on the issue of Mets employees potential problems keeping a roof over their head and food on their table.
Better yet, he said his immediate concern was fan safety. Notably, fans have already been banned from Clover Park. But somehow the safety of people who can’t access the ballpark is a bigger issue than employees paychecks.
Maybe, he and the Mets are just hoping Pete Alonso bails them out again like he did with the 9/11 cleats by pledging a significant portion of money akin to what Zion and Love did. Maybe, he just doesn’t care.
After all, it’s apparently not an important enough issue to garner his attention. Not even to the extent for him to get information to answer a question on the topic; a question anyone with a clue knew would be asked.
We’re in a national crisis and apparently you have nothing better to do than chastise a man for not doing someone else’s job. Give it a rest. He’s fully immersed in his job taking care of the players, baseball staff and their families.
Those who are responsible for taking care of non-baseball employees have their hands full too. Instead of bitching about BVW, do something constructive and informative, such as contacting the people who are actually in charge of those employees, and then following up here about that. .
Part of that national crisis is whether people will have the ability to get food on the table or to make rent/mortgage payments.
I’ll note this is exactly Van Wagenen’s job. It’s his job as the spokesperson. It’s his job as the GM. It’s his job as part of the crisis planning.
I’ll also note articles like this help. It brings an issue to light, and it helps keep it in the news cycle instead of letting it go away.