I’ll probably take a lot of **** for this take, but whatever: There’s always been a decent section of the Jazz fanbase who felt that Larry H. Miller cared about bringing a championship to SLC, but cared about his bottom line just a little bit more. I was always one that disagreed with that opinion, but today’s news makes me wonder. Don’t get me wrong, I understand what this country is facing and sadly, this will end up being the norm in the business world. That being said, I felt like the Miller’s/Jazz organization would be one of the last NBA teams to start laying people off. I realize this is an LHM Corporation thing, not just a Jazz thing. I’m pretty surprised about the Tony Parks lay-off. Dude does a radio show on 1280, handles emcee duties at Jazz home games, calls games for the Bees, Stars, and still probably makes less than PK or Monson. Bummer to see a guy who wears 10 different hats for the Jazz take the hit while the ego driven talking heads at 1280 just get fatter.
Think about what the LHM Group sells. Cars, Basketball (Jazz & Stars), Theaters, the Arena, Baseball, Tour of Utah, advertising, radio, video gaming, loans, vehicle insurance, real estate, and entertainment complex type places.
Most of this, if not all probably is seeing a huge cut in cash flow let alone value. You pay salaries in cash, not investment portfolio value. You can't pay a dime of salary on how much the Jazz is worth.
Many of the other owners are way more "rich" than the Millers/Gail. Even they have to make changes to be able to keep some of the people paid. Unfortunately being in the ownership or C level of companies means making hard decisions. I have seen/heard that many places also have salary cuts to be able to make payroll, but the good part of that is that people get to keep their jobs.
Cash fluidity is a real factor and it has definitely been impacted. When stuff like this happens pretty much all companies take more time to pay their vendors but that also means they are vendors to someone that is delaying payment to them.
It's complicated. It sucks, but I don't/can't blame the Millers for doing what they have to. It's similar to what y'all are saying about flattening the curve. They are flattening the curve of cash flying out the door because they know they can't last long at the rate they were at. The layoffs to a few keeps the many for now.
Yes it sucks to be one of the few. I've been there more than once. I get it... but I also get how businesses work, and not just because of greed in many cases... you still have that. It even becomes necessary for those that actually care about people.
/2cents
/don'tbe2harshonGail
