When the Phoenix Suns began their NBA seeding program on Friday in Florida, the franchise confirmed that an unknown number of employees had been fired.
“We have been working on the restructuring of several departments since the beginning of this year,” Suns Chief Marketing and Communications Officer Dean Stoyer told The Republic, confirming the layoffs. “We found that some of the roles were redundant, some were obsolete and some roles were influenced for performance reasons.”
Stoyer would not confirm the number of layoffs.
However, sources informed the Republic of nearly 30 employees laid off on Monday and sports360az.com reported that the team let go of 30 employees on Wednesday.
“We are now publishing new positions to take on to face new responsibilities,” said Stoyer.
The layoffs come from other cuts in the deductible.
The Suns announced the sale of their G League team, the Northern Arizona Suns, on Wednesday, and no longer have assistants Steve Blake and Larry Greer on Phoenix’s technical staff.
The moves come as the suns are spending on facilities while facing revenue losses after the season was paused in March.
The Suns are contributing $ 80 million at the cost of $ 230 million for the renovation of the Talking Stick Resort Arena and to spend at least $ 45 million on the new practice facility that Suns officials have said the Republic will complete within the beginning of September.
These investments are taking place because the revenue looks like a blow by not having fans in home games after the season was temporarily closed on March 11 after Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert turned out to be positive for coronavirus.
Stoyer, however, claimed that this combination of factors was “completely unrelated” to staff shakeup.
“Companies continually evaluate their makeup, evaluate staff,” said Stoyer. “The changes are necessary over time and we were due.”
Stoyer told Sports Business Daily that COVID-19 “was not a factor” in the cuts.
“Part of the internal restructuring is designed to address the changing landscape of sport and entertainment and look to the future caused by the pandemic, but I don’t want it to be characterized as a reduction in costs due to what has happened in the past six months,” called Stoyer La Repubblica.
Do you have an opinion on the current state of the suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at [email protected] or contact him at 480-787-1240. Follow him on Twitter on @DuaneRankin.
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