The COVID-19 pandemic has been hard on all of us, including the sports leagues and teams that we love to watch.
That's why, on October 15th, all of the Blue Jackets coaching staff took a 20% pay reduction which has continued through today, per a report from TSN's Frank Seravalli. The Blue Jackets are one of seven teams who still have their coaching staff operating on reduced pay. Calgary, Montreal, Ottawa, Vancouver, and Winnipeg initially cut their pay, but have since restored it.
The seven teams who still have their coaching staff on a lower wage include Anaheim, Columbus, Detroit, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Minnesota Wild, and Nashville. Before the season began, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman acknowledged that the league's total losses were in the billion-dollar range, and that they were playing this season "because we think it’s important for the game, because our fans and our players want us to. And it may give people — particularly in isolation, or where there are curfews — a sense of normalcy and something to do."
With no fans, revenue is hard to come by. Slashed wages for coaches are just one consequence that this deadly pandemic has inflicted on sports around the world.
