Golden Knights give update on plan to pay T-Mobile Arena workers

The Golden Knights said Monday that their pledge to offer financial assistance to part-time employees at T-Mobile Arena hinges on the cancellation of the four regular-season home games that have not been played.

“Since our initial pledge in March to support arena hourly on-call workers and part time Golden Knights staff with a minimum of $500,000, we have been actively working with all the entities involved to ensure that individuals are accounted for,” the organization said in a statement. “As noted from the outset of our commitment, the situation is complex with the number of parties, employees and third party vendors involved and the fact that the majority of the workers are not Golden Knights employees.

“We have also been awaiting clarity from the NHL on the status of the remainder of the 2019-20 regular season. We appreciate everyone’s continued patience throughout this process and understand employees are eager to receive more details. We will share all information regarding distribution when appropriate. We are very grateful for the generosity of Bill Foley, Marc-Andre Fleury, the VGK players and the VGK Foundation.”

The organization committed a minimum of $500,000 to assist part-time arena staff and its own part-time employees whose jobs were affected when the NHL season was paused March 12 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The contributions, which included a $100,000 donation from Fleury, initially were to be distributed for regular-season games not played or rescheduled.

The league has not announced its plans for the remainder of the 2019-20 season and whether fans will be allowed in arenas if games are played.

The Knights were scheduled to play home games against Dallas (March 17), Detroit (March 21), Vancouver (March 23) and Arizona (March 25).

The funds are intended to benefit hourly, on-call staff at T-Mobile Arena along with third-party vendors, service providers, food and beverage employees, retail associates, medical staff, event personnel, production and cleaning operations.

The Knights also will support their part-time game staff, which includes interns, in-arena hosts, the public-address announcer, Vegas Vivas!, Golden Belles, Knights Guard, Knight Line, the Golden Knight, DJ and music director, camera operators, control room crew, Battle Wagon driver, Villain and Watchman, and the drivers of the ice resurfacers.

The Knights have yet to address their plan for anyone who purchased tickets to one of the four home games that were postponed along with season ticket holders.

Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.