Evan Petzold

Special to Detroit Free Press

Freelancers at Fox Sports Detroit are searching for answers.

Almost every FSD employee working home games for the Detroit Pistons, Red Wings and Tigers is a freelancer — stage managers, camera operators, audio technicians, editors, among others.

Those are the people Michael Abdella, an EVS operator at Fox Sports for 14 years, is fighting for. With the cancellation or postponement of sporting events because of the coronavirus pandemic, his self-described family members within the Sinclair Broadcast Group freelance industry are out of jobs.

There are more than 100 freelancers who work for FSD — 35 to 40 are needed to produce each game — and right now, they have no source of income, or any information coming from the corporate office.

“This feels like there’s no coming back from,” said Abdella, who specializes in instant replay. “That is the real punch in the gut for a lot of us. You preach teamwork, have meetings, send information out, then when the times get the hardest, you’re radio silent. That is devastating to us.”

Sinclair, which purchased 21 Fox regional sports networks (including FSD) in August 2019 from The Walt Disney Co. for $9.6 billion, released all of its freelancers on March 12 and has yet to provide details on if they will ever be paid for games they had been scheduled to work.

Other companies are paying freelancers for previously planned events.

CBS Sports announced March 13 it would compensate all freelancers who had been scheduled to work the NCAA men's basketball tournament and four PGA Tour events, all of them canceled.

Turner Sports, responsible for broadcasts on TBS, TNT, AT&T SportsNet and TruTV, are providing the same relief for freelancers who planned to work March Madness.

FSD declined interview requests for general manager Greg Hammaren and executive producer Jeff Byle, but the umbrella Fox Regional Sports Networks released a statement:

“The health of our employees and communities is of paramount importance. We are monitoring the situation and we will continue to have dialogue with our partners. Until live sports return, we’ll be airing memorable games from the past, which we hope serve as a diversion and remind us of teams and moments that bring our communities together.”

Representatives from Sinclair Broadcast Group have yet to respond to an interview request.

“Information is not being conveyed from the corporate level to our bosses in order for them to provide it to us,” Abdella said. “We are all extremely disappointed.”

Abdella took it upon himself to figure out what would happen to the freelancers. Even with the understanding that his coworkers are not contractually bound as full-time staffers, he believes it’s unethical for Sinclair to not communicate in a time of crisis.

“We just need to know that there is relief, that they are trying,” Abdella said, “especially when the precedent has been set elsewhere. We need a plan in place beyond just sending unemployment out. What if this happens until August?”

FSD freelancers did not receive unemployment information from Sinclair until March 19, two days after Fox Sports reached out to them via email to offer temporary employment at Meijer as overnight grocery clerks.

When Abdella got the email, he first recognized it as a positive attempt to help freelancers who need to make money. Upon further thought, however, he said telling freelancers to “go stock shelves” didn’t help the situation.

“What people don’t understand is if you do that work, you’re going to get less unemployment,” he said. “That’s me understanding both sides of it.”

Abdella first learned of his release at 5 p.m. March 12. The email of release received by freelancers did not detail anything about COVID-19 nor that Utah Jazz all-stars Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell tested positive for the coronavirus. The Jazz and Pistons played March 7 at Little Caesars Arena. By March 14, it became known Pistons forward Christian Wood also tested positive.

“Due to the recent suspension of games, you are released from all events on the FOX Sports Detroit schedule until further notice,” the March 12 email stated.

The Ilitch family announced March 13 it had set up a $1 million fund to help workers with the Detroit Red Wings and Tigers, Little Caesars Arena, the Fox Theatre and 313 Presents.

The Pistons are paying LCA employees during this time, and forward Blake Griffin has donated $100,000 as well.

Freelancers feel like the forgotten bunch.

“All of a sudden, we get nothing,” Abdella said. “We are all in the same boat.”

He said that in conversations with freelancers from other Fox regional networks, they would consider any deal Sinclair offered, including a weekly stipend.

Anything is better than nothing, and Abdella is begging Sinclair Broadcast Group for help in a time of need.

“Pay us for all the lost gigs,” he said, “and if they play these games, we will work for free. If they don’t, then we keep the money and stay booked for future gigs. Just get us through.”