With the NBA suspending its season indefinitely and closing the doors on its 29 arenas around the country for the foreseeable future with no games to be played, Cleveland Cavaliers star Kevin Love pledged $100,000 Thursday to aid arena workers displaced by the league's response to the coronavirus.
"My hope is that others will step up!!" Love told ESPN via text message.
Love's act of generosity echoes the joint statement released by the Cavs and their home arena, the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse, on Thursday when they vowed to develop "a compensation plan to continue paying our event staff and hourly workforce that is impacted with the changes to our regular event schedule."
There are "well over a thousand" workers employed at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse and the Canton Memorial Civic Center for the Cavs and the Charge, the Cavs' G League affiliate, as well as for the AHL's Cleveland Monsters, NCAA events and concerts, according to a team spokesperson.