| July, 2011 |
| More than 100 N.B.A. employees were laid off this week, heightening the sense of economic distress as the league’s owners and players haggle over a new labor agreement. NY Times |
| All told, 114 positions — 11 percent of the league’s work force — were eliminated, primarily in New York and New Jersey, from nearly every division, including marketing, community relations, player programs, broadcasting and information technology. Most employees received the news Wednesday or Thursday. NY Times |
| The layoffs came two weeks after the N.B.A. locked out its players and froze operations. League officials said the two events were unrelated, although they were clearly intertwined, with the N.B.A. claiming annual losses of $300 million and searching for cost savings. NY Times |
| As the lockout enters its third week, some teams have begun quietly shedding employees. The Charlotte Bobcats recently laid off at least seven people, including their radio play-by-play announcer, Scott Lauer, according to The Associated Press. The Detroit Pistons let go of 15 people, The A.P. reported. NY Times |
| The Los Angeles Lakers, one of the league’s richest franchises, have laid off most of their training staff, their longtime equipment manager and their assistant general manager. NY Times |
| The NBA lockout might threaten the Orlando Magic's next season in Amway Center, but city officials say they'll be able to pay the bills for their new building even if the Magic aren't there. Orlandosentinel.com |
| "It's not like last time, where if they didn't play they didn't pay. This time, they don't play, they pay," venues director Allen Johnson said. "That's why we kept the contract the way it is: so we're covered." Orlandosentinel.com |
| That doesn't mean there won't be some financial pain for City Hall if the lights are out. The city will lose out on a "facility fee" tacked on every ticket sold to an event at the Amway Center. The fee — ranging from 25 cents for the cheapest Magic tickets to $2.50 for tickets costing more than $100 — helps pay for building maintenance. Orlandosentinel.com |
| "We want to have an NBA season," Mayor Buddy Dyer said. "Economically, I guess the venue would do better because we wouldn't have to man the building, but it would so hurt the merchants around Church Street. The huge concern is not the impact on the city and its venues — it's the income for everybody else who relies on events being held in the Amway Center." Orlandosentinel.com |
| Despite the labor rift between National Basketball Association owners and players, Indiana Pacers President Jim Morris says he doesn't plan to lay off any of the organization’s 170 employees—at least for now. Indianapolis Business Journal |
| September, 2011 |
| You’ve got to feel for Timothy Davey. The affable Davey is general manager of Spirit of ’77 on Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, a few blocks’ walk from the Rose Quarter. Davey rushed to open Spirit of ’77 last October, 10 days before the first Trail Blazers game of the year. Spirit might be classified as a sports bar, but foremost it is a Blazers fan hangout, according to Davey. Last year, 82 of the bar’s busiest 100 nights were Blazers game dates. Fans stop by before and after attending the games, or to watch away games on television. The Portland Tribune |
| If union official Billy Hunter is right, it’s going to be a winter of adjustment for Portlanders. For some more than others. Arena ticket sellers, vendors and parking attendants could lose jobs along with Blazers front office staff. In addition, the city of Portland’s 6 percent take of ticket and parking revenue from Blazers games – $3.65 million last season – would disappear. Spirit of ’77 manager Davey says no business in town would be more affected by a prolonged NBA lockout than his. “If it gets to the point where there’s not an NBA season, it will have a dramatic effect on the vitality and future of Spirit of ’77,” Davey says. The Portland Tribune |
But if you listen to the people paid to analyze these things, the economic impact  on Portland from a lost NBA season will be practically nil. In fact, increasingly they are saying that the idea of a sports franchise providing economic benefit to a city is a fraud perpetrated on the American public by team owners looking for public concessions. The culprit is what economists call the “substitution effect.” “People spend their discretionary income,” says Lauren Beitelspacher, Portland State University assistant professor of marketing. “They have a budget for entertainment, and they’re going to spend it.” If they’re not spending it on Blazers game nights, Beitelspacher says, they may go out to the movies more often, or out to dinner or on extra vacations. But they will spend it. And in some cases, what they spend it on might yield greater benefit for the Portland area than putting it in Blazers owner Paul Allen’s pocket. The Portland Tribune |
| The Grizzlies just experienced their first employment casualties due to the NBA lockout. Seven people were laid off by the franchise although some workers will have an opportunity to return to work whenever the league’s labor dispute is resolved. Video coordinator Trish McGhee, assistant equipment manager Vince Ford and scouting coordinator Wendy Smith were among the workers relieved of their duties. The Griz also released a receptionist, mail clerk and members of the claim services staff. The Commercial Appeal |
| The nation's 29 NBA arenas and their workers are bracing for a loss of revenue and wages totaling tens of millions of dollars if the labor dispute between NBA owners and players leads to most or all of the 2011-12 season being canceled. The situation is particularly acute at Staples Center in Los Angeles, because it's home to two NBA teams, the Lakers and Clippers. While the other NBA arenas each host 41 regular-season home games a year, Staples Center has 82. Los Angeles Times |
| "It's going to devastate these workers," said Mike Garcia, president of the SEIU-United Service Workers West union, with nearly 1,000 members working at the three NBA arenas in California: Staples Center, Oracle Arena in Oakland and Power Balance Pavilion in Sacramento. "They have become very dependent on these jobs," he said. The workers include janitors, ushers and ticket-takers who earn about $11 an hour on average. Los Angeles Times |
| An additional 700 food-service workers at Staples Center would be idled if Lakers and Clippers games were scrapped, said Tom Walsh, president of Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Local 11, the workers' union. A canceled NBA season also would be a huge financial hit to the food-service companies that employ them, such as Levy Restaurants, which operates in 17 NBA arenas, including the three in California. Levy declined to comment. Los Angeles Times |
| The financial impact of canceled games on the 30 NBA teams and the arenas would vary widely because of vastly different lease agreements. For example, the Lakers don't pay rent at Staples Center but pay an undisclosed percentage of their games' ticket sales to the arena, according to one source familiar with the arrangement who was not authorized to comment publicly. However, both the Warriors and Phoenix Suns will owe their full rent to their government-owned arenas if the season is canceled. The Warriors' rent obligation is $1.5 million a year (about $36,500 for each regular-season game), Kaufman said. If the entire NBA season were lost, the team would also be on the hook eventually for nearly $6 million that normally would be paid to the county authority by the Warriors mainly from premium-seating revenue and concessions at Oracle Arena, he said. Los Angeles Times |
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