Madison Square Garden Sports is cutting 50 jobs, or roughly 15% of its corporate staff. MSG Sports owns NBA team the New York Knicks, NHL team the New York Rangers, and esports organization Counter Logic Gaming.
A representative from MSG Sports confirmed with The Esports Observer that the layoff numbers were accurate but would not comment further on if these layoffs affect Counter Logic Gaming.
Additionally, MSG Sports sister company Madison Square Garden Entertainment plans to lay off roughly 350 employees, or one-third of its workforce, according to reporting from the New York Post Monday.
The core reason for these layoffs and other layoffs that occured in March (which number in the thousands and mostly hit employees at venues or team home stadiums) were and continue to be related to the COVID-19 pandemic and the lack of live sporting and entertainment events.
On Monday MSG Entertainment also announced that its annual “Christmas Spectacular” starring the Rockettes at its Radio City Music Hall venue has been canceled this year.