Context for the SF Opera orchestra contract dispute, from Lisa Hirsch: Currently, SFO says that ticket sales cover about 14% of the budget. The vast majority of the rest comes from fund-raising and draw from endowment. I know that the orchestra and many audience members are saying that more performances are the answer, but given that ticket sales cover only 14% of the overall cost of putting on opera, for every performance added, you need to somehow secure the other 86% of the budget from other sources. https://irontongue.blogspot.com/2026/09/san-francisco-opera-orchestra-strike.html