NBC Sports’ On-Air Personalities Taking Pay Cuts for the Rest of the Year

Due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, NBC’s on-air personalities are taking a pay cut through the rest of the year, according to Variety.

“Our on-air personalities reached out to see how they could contribute to helping our company at this difficult time, and all have voluntarily accepted temporary pay reductions,” said Pete Bevacqua, president of NBC Sports Group, in a written statement. “It’s another reminder of the truly great team we have at NBC Sports, and how we’re all working together to get through this immense challenge.”

NBC Sports is responsible for Sunday Night Football as well as NHL games and Premier League soccer.

NBCUniversal and its parent company, Comcast, has outlined the challenges it faces due to the pandemic. The company’s theme parks have closed. The 2020 telecast of the Tokyo Olympics has been postponed and ad sales have slowed down in recent weeks. Senior executives at NBCU took a 20% cut in salary, while those being paid more than $100,000 saw their salary being reduced by 3%.

NBC is the latest network to agree to salary reductions in the wake of the nation’s coronavirus pandemic postponing all major sports. The pay cuts range from 5% to 10%. ESPN and Fox had previously asked much of their top on-air talent to take 15% pay cuts through July.

Last month, ESPN had asked its highest-paid sports commentators to take a 15% reduction in salary over the next three months to help cope with the losses attributed to the coronavirus pandemic.

The voluntary pay cuts were designed to help deter additional furloughs that would directly affect lower-paid network employees who might be more financially vulnerable. The network had already furloughed employees who work on live events.