Whenever a major money maker like the NBA shuts its doors the financial implications extend beyond the primary parties involved. Just as all the businesses in Downtown L.A. about that. According to a report in the L.A. Times today, businesses in Downtown L.A. stand to lose as much as $3-million in revenue for the specific dates in which NBA games were to be played.
Let that sink in for a minute.
So often we hear about how much revenue the bigger markets generate when it comes to the NBA. At the center of this lockout are the smaller markets that are said to be operating at a loss. Keeping that in mind the Times reports shows just how vital NBA hoops is to all local business throughout the country.
The report goes on to state that many of the Staples adjacent businesses could lose as much as 20% of their revenue for the coming year. Safe to say that most of the businesses opened in Downtown in the last decade have relied on the events at Staples to generate a lot of their revenue. Without the NBA those same business are missing out on plenty of cash grabs considering Los Angeles boasts of two NBA teams.
Some of those businesses, like the newly opened Hooters, are already claiming to be overstaffed. You know that that means for some unfortunate employees. In addition consider all of the staffers at Staples that rely on the NBA season for their jobs to begin.
Just chalk all that up as collateral damage brought on by this hideous labor dispute.
Surely David Stern has got to see the big picture here. No matter his obligations to the owners he has an obligation to the game itself. Stern has long been one of the key figures in the expansion of the game. With a global presence, the entire world is now watching the NBA.
Stern must roll up his sleeves and do some dirty work here. He can’t just be a puppet for the owners. Not when you look at all the trickle down effects from the current work stoppage. As the Commissioner of the world’s best hoops league Stern has also got to have one eye on his legacy as well.
I can’t imagine he wants to go down as the man that helped to revert Downtown L.A. back to the pre-Staples era, let alone to lose an entire NBA season. That wouldn’t be good for Stern’s look. And the longer the lockout goes the worse it looks for all of the future plans for Downtown as well. With the NFL already hedging their bets on Farmers Field there is no way of knowing just what economic fallout from the NBA lockout might affect that whole process.
In short the lockout has many victims and not all are found in Milwaukee or Memphis. There are plenty right here in the City of Angels. And if you don’t believe me then cruise on down to L.A. Live and see how much less foot traffic there is now when compared to one year ago.