Starting later this month, national office staff will be subjected to a mandatory three-week furloughGETTY IMAGES
The NCAA "will furlough its entire Indianapolis-based staff of about 600 employees for three to eight weeks in a cost-saving move," according to Ralph Russo of the AP. The memo from NCAA President Mark Emmert "went out to the association's more than 1,200 member schools" yesterday. The furloughs "will not affect senior executives." Starting Sept. 21 through the end of January '21, all national office staff "will be subjected to a mandatory three-week furlough." Some staff "will be furloughed up to eight weeks, depending on position and 'seasonal timing of their duties.'" The latest "belt-tightening measures include voluntary separation and early retirement packages being offered to many NCAA employees." The NCAA took a "massive financial hit when it canceled the men's college basketball tournament in March because of the COVID-19 pandemic" (AP, 9/2).
IMPORTANCE OF NCAA TOURNEY: ACC Network’s Mark Packer said of the furloughs: “Does that not scream how important March Madness for ’21 is? ... What do you mean everyone’s gone? It’s not like, ‘Well, we’ve got ten of these guys unfortunately and 15…’ All 600 of you, furloughed. If that is not an incentive for the men’s basketball tournament to take place in ’21, nothing will.” ACC Network’s Wes Durham: “If you don’t think for a moment that the NCAA men’s basketball tournament is critical this year to the NCAA as much as it is to membership, you are missing.” Durham: “There is no doubt in my mind that, one way or another, they are going to play that event. They might not play it until May or June, but they’re going to play it” (“Packer & Durham,” ACC Network, 9/3).
