As the NBA lockout drags on, the negative impact on NBA communities increases. While it obviously effects the millionaire owners and players, they are only a handful of people. They will be just fine.
The list of real victims includes:
The day to day NBA employees – The NBA has sales, marketing, administrative, and executive staffs that guide the organization. With decreased revenue from no games , there will be decreased payrolls, i.e. fewer employees. As well, the NBA offices outsource to local firms for research, printing, consulting, and other services. That business is gone until the season begins.
The team employees in each of the NBA cities and the companies who they outsource business to. The cast of characters and negative impact is similar to the national office
The part-time event workers – There are a number of behind the scene part-time workers who make the events possible. This includes the folks who mop up your spilled beer and sweep up the popcorn you dropped on the floor. As well there are the ushers, janitors, parking lot attendants, and the concessionaires who sold you the beer and popcorn. While these folks are paid in the $10 to $15 per hour range, their part-time wages are often critical to their families. There are thousands of part-time workers in this category.
The special services workers – An NBA game includes people who provide special services for the event that add to the game-day experience. How could you forget the cheerleaders and team mascots? Not to mention the scorers, the scoreboard operator, the announcer with the booming baritone voice, and the folks who put on the light show and play the blaring music. And there are half time acts, such as the scantily clad dancers and the acrobatic dogs who catch Frisbees. In addition, there are the radio and television broadcast teams, their staffs and crews, and the lost advertising premiums associated with coverage of the games. There is a trickle-down effect; the lost wages
associated with these workers are not being circulated throughout the community.
Local businesses – there are local restaurants, hotels, bars, t-shirt shops, and other businesses that will experience a decline in revenue because of the loss of game-day traffic throughout the season. The loss of revenues will result in decreased purchases from their suppliers.
The list goes on… What about the cities with new arenas? The cities that would like to build new arenas? What about the teams that are struggling with attendance? Will the lockout cause disillusioned fans to stay away long after the players have returned to work? Will the lockout cause future ticket prices to escalate to make up for lost revenues?
The desire for increased revenue and wages on the part of a few, sometimes referred to as greed, has created an ugly scenario for many innocent victims.