What's going on at the Metropolitan Opera?
To make a long story short, the management and the unions are in conflict about contract negotiations for the upcoming season. There's a high risk of a lockout. Here is one article on the situation; a quick search for 'Met opera labor conflict' will provide a lot more.
Why is there a conflict at all?
The Met ran a deficit of $2.8 million last year. General manager Peter Gelb says it would have been much higher if not for an unsustainable level of donations. On top of that, the endowment is dangerously low (down to less than a single season's operating expenses). The Met needs to balance its budget and rebuild its endowment, and Gelb claims that donors will be 'motivated' by large cost cuts.
Why should we care?
The Met is the top opera company in the United States, and one of the top opera companies in the world. Losing the Met would be emblematic of the decline of opera as a genre in this country. More immediately, it would reduce people's exposure to opera worldwide---tens of millions of tickets have been sold to international video transmissions of the Met's operas. (Sorry, I could only find vague numbers. If anyone has specific Live in HD statistics, please let me know!)
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