Layoffs (unquantified) at Barclays Center, among "Brooklyn Boxing" staff promoting a niche sport

In NYFights 1/7/21, columnist Michael Woods, wrote Pandemic, Social Upheaval Spur Changes At Barclays Center, But Brooklyn Boxing Will Survive:

On Tuesday, word dropped that layoffs hit at Barclays Center, and that included someone who rode the wave of Brooklyn Boxing from the get go, Joseph DiMitri of Bensonhurst, Brooklyn.

“The end of an era…Yesterday, I along with many other of my closest colleagues were let go by Barclays Center. After 8 1/2 dedicated years, I will not be able to finish…what was started,” the 37 year old sales ace shared on social. “Prior to the stoppage in March, Brooklyn Boxing was set to have another big year to host some of the biggest fights in the game. All I can say is a big ‘thank you’ to my great clients, family and friends who have loyally supported throughout the years. I hope we all can stay in contact as I seek my next venture and hope to announce it soon.”

It's unclear how many workers were laid off. (DiMitri told Woods that Barclays did the right thing with an exit package.) 

DiMitri and colleagues were, as far as I know, full-time staff, not the part-timers who arena operator Joe Tsai pledged to pay through the end of 2020. (It's unclear if and how that pledge has been extended.) 

More boxing?

Woods observed, "You could say this marked an end of the 'Yormark Era' at the Brooklyn arena, for boxing."

Under then-CEO Brett Yormark, a big boxing fan given reign to promote the sport by Bruce Ratner and then Mikhail Prokhorov, who controlled the arena operating company, there were 39 pro boxing events at Barclays Center. 

Arena spokeswoman Mandy Guttman told Woods, of boxing, "we plan to keep building on that legacy when the time is right." That's ambiguous, but leaves room for a return. 

Woods concludes:

As a fan, I very much hope that the boxing program continues in Brooklyn. But this is the boxing business, and I hold no illusions about the breadth of the appeal of the sport. So it doesn’t surprise me, really, when folks make decisions to pivot off boxing, to events and programs that are “easier,” and are likely to enjoy a higher ceiling of potential popularity.

That said, without pro hockey, the arena likely will have some more flex in its schedule, once it reopens to crowds, and boxing allows for a truncated arena bowl.