Editor’s note: Soon after publishing this story, some MLS teams announced plans to pay part-time and hourly employees. The story has been updated.

While players, coaches, front office employees and executives alike are facing an unprecedented work stoppage after MLS mandated a 30-day suspension of its 2020 season in response to the spread of COVID-19, there is also the issue of the employees who keep things moving behind the scenes.

In addition to full-time employees, MLS clubs employ hundreds of part-time and seasonal workers who keep things running on game days — ushers, concession workers, janitorial staff and the like. To those employees, this unprecedented health crisis could potentially come at a steep financial price, possibly eliminating a vital portion of their income in entirety.

That possibility isn’t limited to MLS, obviously. While workers in MLS stadia may only miss a game or two, workers in other leagues — The NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball in particular — are facing an even greater loss, as many of those employees deal with the possibility of losing dozens of shifts. That possibility has led ownership at a handful of clubs — the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, Philadelphia 76ers and the NHL’s New Jersey Devils — to publicly pledge relief for their part-time and stadium workers.

Two MLS teams so far have announced plans to compensate part-time and hourly employees: Atlanta United and Orlando City (as first reported by Pro Soccer USA).

Other teams, at least publicly, are still in the planning stages as of Friday night. On Thursday, MLSE, parent company to Toronto FC, as well as the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs, the NBA’s Toronto Raptors and others, announced they were “finalizing programs to assist our part-time and event staff, made up of close to 4,000 dedicated event personnel.” Many polled on Friday said such a move is under consideration. It’s worth noting that this situation is still in its infancy and some clubs didn’t have events scheduled at their home stadiums for days or weeks as it was, so time remains for clubs to formulate a plan of action.

MLSE statement on suspension of NBA, NHL and MLS seasons. pic.twitter.com/remYl1rTyB — MLSE PR (@MLSEPR) March 12, 2020

A D.C. United executive said the club was looking into contingency plans for gameday staff at both venues the club owns — Audi Field, home of United, and Segra Field in Loudoun County, home of USL affiliate Loudoun United. “We’re putting together a lot of models for the entire business,” the executive said.

Other teams also said such plans are under consideration. When reached for comment, a Real Salt Lake spokesperson said the club is working through the specifics of a potential plan. And the Colorado Rapids suggested via a spokesperson on Friday that they have been proactive in exploring options for gameday staff.

The Philadelphia Union are also considering their options, telling The Athletic in a statement that “Our gameday staff play a significant role in defining the guest experience at Subaru Park. We are in communication with the league office and other MLS teams on this topic, among others, and are evaluating scenarios. At the moment, two home games have been postponed, but we do expect those games to be rescheduled.”

The Portland Timbers offered the following comment via a club spokesperson:

“Our hourly and part-time staff are very important to us and play a tremendous role in the guest experience at Providence Park. As this rapidly changing and unprecedented situation continues to evolve, we will explore all options available to mitigate losses caused by the cancelation of events. We understand MLS is looking at the possibility of rescheduling all postponed matches until later in the season. We will work closely with the League office during this process.

As the Timbers mentioned, the fact that it is still not entirely clear what the league plans to do about the games it has already decided to postpone complicates things. It is unclear at the moment whether stadium workers are losing wages in entirety or whether those work opportunities might just be rescheduled at a later date, most likely in October. The latter of those possibilities would surely be preferable to those workers, but rescheduling the games doesn’t solve any immediate financial impact. It’s also presumptive to assume that those workers might not already have other employment opportunities lined up for the fall, given the season nature of their employment with an MLS club.

Different clubs face different situations, as well, which leads to varying levels of obligation. Clubs like D.C. United or LAFC own the stadium they play in, and have a more direct financial relationship with stadium staff, while a club like FC Cincinnati, for example, rents its facility and depends on external vendors for part-time staff — in Cincy’s case, the University of Cincinnati.

Sports teams are privately owned, of course, and have no legal obligation to provide any kind of safety net for their part-time employees in what is truly an unprecedented crisis. It’s important to note, though, that many of these privately owned businesses have at, some point, benefited from substantial government funding, some in the form of taxpayer dollars pumped into stadium projects, others in the form of tax breaks (property or sales tax abatements) or other mechanisms. Ten MLS stadia, for example, sit in federally-designated “opportunity zones,” which incentivize development in those areas via breaks in capital gains tax.

Several MLS clubs also have community benefit agreements with local municipalities, some of which stipulate that clubs employ a certain percentage of employees from within the neighborhood their stadiums sit in. Those employees, by and large, are probably disproportionately dependent on the income generated by their part-time employment at those stadiums, and many live in underserved communities.

What clubs do during this unprecedented crisis, then, becomes a bit of a barometer of the level of civic obligation they might feel. Professional sports franchises are private entities, yes, but in many instances, they purport to be public institutions, sources of ‘civic pride’ and representatives for the idealized characteristics that define their home communities. Whether these teams choose to offer up something a bit more tangible than team spirit remains to be seen.

(Photo: Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports)