LAKELAND, Fla. -- The Spring Training schedule ended early, not only for Tigers players and coaches, but for the part-time staff who work at the games. Now it appears they’ll be paid for the games, along with several other game and event staff across the Ilitch corporate family.

Ilitch Holdings Group Sports and Entertainment president Chris Granger announced that the group’s various organizations, including the Tigers, have set up a $1 million fund to cover one month’s wages for part-time game and event staff who lost work due to coronavirus cancellations and postponements. That includes a half-dozen Grapefruit League games that had been scheduled at Joker Marchant Stadium but were canceled by Major League Baseball on Thursday.

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In other words, the game staffers will be paid for the games they lost.

“Our sincere hope is that this provides comfort to our colleagues in this difficult time,” the statement read. “When events resume, we look forward to our colleagues being safely back to work as normal.”

The Tigers have several part-time staffers in Lakeland who have worked the games for years. Many are retirees who grew up in Michigan and either headed to the Lakeland area as snowbirds or moved there full-time.