spectre
03-20-2010, 10:39 AM
Ken Berger - CBS Sports (http://ken-berger.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/11838893/20536773?source=rss_blogs_NBA)
Stern’s $400 million figure appears rooted in a doomsday projection of a double-digit league-wide decline in gate receipts – the money teams bring in from all ticket sales – during the 2009-10 season. Based on ticket sales data from July 2009 obtained by CBSSports.com, the league was looking at a 17 percent decline in revenues from full- and partial-season ticket plans this season. The figures excluded three teams – the Knicks, Lakers and Thunder (http://www.cbssports.com/nba/teams/page/OKC) – because they had not reported season-ticket sales in July 2008 for comparison purposes.
At the 2009 NBA Finals – weeks before the July report obtained by CBSSports.com was produced – Stern floated the possibility that the league could see as much as a 10 percent decline in basketball-related income during the 2009-10 season. (Gate receipts are about one-third of BRI, which determines the salary cap.) That figure was later revised to a reduction of between 2.5 percent and 5 percent in a league memo to teams. In the memo, the league warned that the resulting drop in the 2010-11 cap would be $5-8 million from its previous level of $58.7 million.
If 2009-10 gate receipts declined 17 percent – as the league’s July report suggested would be the case – it would’ve resulted in a loss of approximately $200 million in ticket revenue. Potentially, there’s the difference between Stern’s stated annual losses of $200 million in the first four years of the CBA and the $400 million he projected for 2009-10.
But the latest data available on gate receipts showed a decline of only 7.4 percent for 2009-10, according to another league ticket sales report through Nov. 29 that was obtained by CBSSports.com. The 7.4 percent decline in revenue was associated with a 3.7 percent decline in paid attendance, the report said. No updated figures have been made public since then, but Stern said during All-Star weekend that attendance would be down about 2 percent this season. “It is doing better this season than we were actually projecting it,” he said.
If the decline were to have held steady at 7.4 percent since Nov. 29, the resulting loss of ticket revenue would be about $80 million – not the $200 million reflected by the league’s July projections.
Lot's of good stuff here.
Stern’s $400 million figure appears rooted in a doomsday projection of a double-digit league-wide decline in gate receipts – the money teams bring in from all ticket sales – during the 2009-10 season. Based on ticket sales data from July 2009 obtained by CBSSports.com, the league was looking at a 17 percent decline in revenues from full- and partial-season ticket plans this season. The figures excluded three teams – the Knicks, Lakers and Thunder (http://www.cbssports.com/nba/teams/page/OKC) – because they had not reported season-ticket sales in July 2008 for comparison purposes.
At the 2009 NBA Finals – weeks before the July report obtained by CBSSports.com was produced – Stern floated the possibility that the league could see as much as a 10 percent decline in basketball-related income during the 2009-10 season. (Gate receipts are about one-third of BRI, which determines the salary cap.) That figure was later revised to a reduction of between 2.5 percent and 5 percent in a league memo to teams. In the memo, the league warned that the resulting drop in the 2010-11 cap would be $5-8 million from its previous level of $58.7 million.
If 2009-10 gate receipts declined 17 percent – as the league’s July report suggested would be the case – it would’ve resulted in a loss of approximately $200 million in ticket revenue. Potentially, there’s the difference between Stern’s stated annual losses of $200 million in the first four years of the CBA and the $400 million he projected for 2009-10.
But the latest data available on gate receipts showed a decline of only 7.4 percent for 2009-10, according to another league ticket sales report through Nov. 29 that was obtained by CBSSports.com. The 7.4 percent decline in revenue was associated with a 3.7 percent decline in paid attendance, the report said. No updated figures have been made public since then, but Stern said during All-Star weekend that attendance would be down about 2 percent this season. “It is doing better this season than we were actually projecting it,” he said.
If the decline were to have held steady at 7.4 percent since Nov. 29, the resulting loss of ticket revenue would be about $80 million – not the $200 million reflected by the league’s July projections.
Lot's of good stuff here.