Sacramento Republic FC on Thursday "began both partial and full employee furloughs," according to Ben van der Meer of the SACRAMENTO BUSINESS JOURNAL. A spokesperson "did not give an exact figure for the number of employees affected" but suggested that the move "affects most if not all of the team's 50 or so employees, from game-day staff to ticket sales to marketing and sponsorships." Team execs also are "taking an unspecified pay cut." The team opted for furloughs rather than layoffs to "keep the prospect open of bringing back at least some staff later on, as well as designating some employees to work reduced hours rather than no hours." The furlough moves "aren't expected to affect" Republic FC's more long-term plan of joining MLS as an expansion franchise in '22. A spokesperson said that the team is "still moving forward on that path." But there is "no exact timing yet for a critical piece to making the MLS move work: construction starting on a new stadium in Sacramento's Railyards development." Team officials as recently as February said that they "expected full-fledged work to get underway by late spring." Republic FC officials have suggested that "infrastructure work in the Railyards, as well as the need to rethink how to carry out construction with social distancing and other measures, are factors in why visible stadium work is still pending" (BIZJOURNALS.com, 6/18).
