Chargers coaches and some of the team's high-paid personnel "will take immediate pay cuts should NFL owners lock out their players next week," though the team has "decided to not cut any employees unless a lockout drags into the season," according to Kevin Acee of the SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE. It is "not known the size of the pay cuts Chargers personnel will take, but it is believed to be significant." It is "possible that if no games are lost to the lockout that the withheld pay will be reimbursed." Chargers employees, including coaches, "already took a hit last week when the Chargers joined 11 other NFL teams that had previously opted out of the NFL pension plan." Acee notes "all teams have been preparing for the lockout differently." The Chiefs "recently laid off 11 employees; the New York Jets plan immediate furloughs in the event of a lockout, and talk at the NFL Scouting Combine ... is that several other teams plan similar cutbacks." Almost every assistant coach in the league is "subject to potentially severe pay reductions in the event of a lockout" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 2/25).
NO FURLOUGHS FOR GIANTS: Giants President & CEO John Mara Thursday "confirmed that the Giants -- unlike the Jets -- don't intend to make their staff endure furloughs, layoffs or salary cuts in the very likely event of a lockout starting next week." Mara said that he "met with both the football and non-football personnel last week to tell them a hiring and salary freeze would be instituted instead -- at least in the early going." Mara: "That'll be revisited at a later date, and we'll see where we are a few months from now. But for now, that's what our intention is, not to make any drastic changes" (N.Y. POST, 2/25).
