I’ve said many times this summer that the NBA lockout is a lose-lose situation.
While players can look for more work overseas, owners, fans and gameday staff could stand to lose the most from the lockout.
TiqIq, a third party ticket aggregator and provider, crunched the numbers to let us know exactly how much teams could lose in ticket revenue in secondary markets if the lockout takes away a half season, similar to 1999, or the full 2011-12 season.
Not surprisingly,two of the biggest markets, Los Angeles and New York, could lose the most.
The Lakers are projected to lose $19.7 million while the Knicks would lose $18.3 million and the Miami Heat could lose $14.7 million. For a full season, the NBA could lose a total of $184 million.
Add to that figure the amount lost on television deals, merchandise, and what sometimes costs more than tickets themselves, the inflated prices from food stands, and owners throughout the league could be looking at losing a lot of money, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Although in a league where Rudy Gay and Joe Johnson are given max contracts and Rashard Lewis is the second-highest paid player, I’m not too surprised to see owners look a gift horse in the mouth.
