Business & Tech
Comcast Sports Group Employees Can Move or Lose Their Jobs
Philadelphia offices of Comcast Sports Group will be moved to Stamford, Conn. in 2013. An employee informed Patch that workers were given a letter Friday to state their intentions with the company's move by Oct. 1
Comcast Sports Group employees in Philadelphia have until October 1 to decide if they will be moving to Connecticut with the company or finding jobs elsewhere.
However, Tim Fitzpatrick of NBC Sports said this is not a new development and employees have known for "months and months" of the Oct. 1 deadline.
"This process has been unfolding for months. If a letter has gone out, that's the latest part of the process," said Fitzpatrick. "It's inaccurate (to say) employees have been given four days to decide."
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However, a source employed at Comcast SportsNet informed Patch that employees were handed letters Friday stating each has only four days to decide to move to new corporate headquarters in Stamford, CT.
Comcast Sports Group is owned by NBC Sports.
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Another Comcast Sports Group employee said everyone who wishes to move will have a job and those who do not can "apply for other jobs."
Comcast Sports Group offices are set to be closed in Philadelphia in Spring 2013.
News of Comcast Sports Group's move to Connecticut has been in the media since Fall 2011.
Sports Business Daily reported that NBC Sports Chairman Mark Lazarus and group president Jon Litner — who oversees Comcast SportsNet regional sports networks — announced in 2011 that more than 300 NBC Sports employees will move to Stamford, Conn.
NBC Sports, Versus and Comcast SportsNet operate out of offices in Manhattan, Connecticut and Philadelphia.
The move, according to the article, puts all of NBC Sports under one roof.
The reason for the move, according to Sports Business Daily, is tax breaks in Connecticut that are offered to the TV and film industry, as well as cheaper rent for its employees.
Connecticut is also the home of sports broadcasting competitor ESPN.
According to an October 2011 Philadelphia Inquirer article, Comcast, after acquiring a controlling interest in NBC Universal, transferred ownership of Versus and SportsNet to NBC Sports, which, in turn, folded those businesses into its operations.
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