Billionaire Tepper Takes Heat for Laying Off Panthers Staff

(Bloomberg) -- Billionaire David Tepper is on the defensive about his sports organization’s decision to lay off workers during the pandemic.

Tepper Sports and Entertainment, the holding company that includes the hedge fund titan’s stakes in the Carolina Panthers football team and Charlotte FC soccer team, has furloughed or laid off about 30 employees since May.

The decision to cut employees is in contrast to other high-profile owners, such as the National Basketball Association’s Mark Cuban, who have pledged to pay stadium workers whose jobs were threatened by the lack of fans at games.

On a Zoom call with reporters Wednesday, the National Football League’s richest owner said the job cuts weren’t strictly a financial decision.

“I decide on these decisions based on what’s good for the organization and what’s good for the individual,” said Tepper, 62, founder of Appaloosa Management. “It’s not good to have an individual sit there idle for a year or a year and a half or two years with nothing to do inside the organization.”

A spokesperson for Tepper, who is worth $12.7 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires index, declined to comment.

The Panthers aren’t alone in their decision to cut costs through workforce reductions. In April, the NFL announced pay cuts for employees making more than $100,000 per year along with staff furloughs. Carolina announced Monday that no fans would attend the season opener against the Las Vegas Raiders.

Fellow billionaire and Buffalo Bills and Sabres owner Terry Pegula laid off 21 and furloughed more than 100 employees from his sports and entertainment company in April, but said the Bills would be operating at “normal levels” this season. The Atlanta Falcons’ parent company eliminated 12 positions in August, including the general manager of their stadium.

Other teams, however, have avoided cuts. The Baltimore Ravens said the organization has set up a fund to pay stadium workers even if games are played without fans this season. And the Miami Dolphins haven’t furloughed or laid off any employees.

“We feel like the pandemic is a very serious, but hopefully short-term situation,” Dolphins President Tom Garfinkel told the Miami Herald last week. “We want to try to keep everything intact if we can and look at it as three years of revenues and expenses, as opposed to one year.”

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