Angels' grant will help pay more than 1,800 stadium employees during virus pause

The Los Angeles Angels are committing $1.2 million to cover more than 1,800 people who work at their stadium. The money, issued through a one-time grant, will provide financial assistance to a wide range of employees, including third-party vendors, and will be distributed on a sliding scale based on factors like job title, pay rate and hours worked.

The announcement stems from a mid-March announcement that all major league teams would commit $1 million to ballpark employees who were suddenly left without work because of the coronavirus pandemic. The Angels increased their commitment by 20 percent and began distributing the money this week because their workers would have received their first paycheck on Thursday, had baseball's regular season played out as planned.

Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred is expected to suspend Uniform Employee Contracts effective May 1, allowing teams to furlough employees or reduce their pay, as first reported by The Athletic.

The Cincinnati Reds, Atlanta Braves, Philadelphia Phillies and San Francisco Giants are among the teams who have decided to instead pay employees through the end of May. The Angels are among the many other teams who have yet to finalize more long-term plans for their stadium workers.

"Right now we're making decisions day by day as new information comes in," Angels spokesperson Marie Garvey said. "It's the best anybody can do."