NEW YORK—As the NBA lockout marches into December, business owners are starting to feel the financial pressure of a winter without the NBA.
For businesses around Madison Square Garden (MSG), the NBA lockout could not have come at a worse time. Even during the offseason, MSG provides businesses with financial opportunities in the form of concerts and other non-sport events. This past offseason, however, MSG was closed for renovations, and there was not a single event the entire summer.
“We were really looking forward to all the sports coming back and the concerts coming back. So not having the Knicks around is a bad blow,” said Helen Woods, general manager of Tir Na Nog, an Irish pub located near MSG.
Woods said she lost between $4,000 and $7,000 each game night. They didn’t lay anyone off, but they cut staff hours on game nights.
Instead of depending on the NBA to start their season, Woods is taking a new approach to drive business and ensure revenue to keep the doors open. “If someone books an event on a night a month down the road and a Knicks game is scheduled, I am taking the event,” Woods said.
“I am not waiting to see if the Knicks are going to come back,” she said.
Paul O'Hurley, owner of six bars in the city, spoke at a Wednesday press conference in front of MSG. “The restaurant business in New York City since the strike is down 30-40 percent easy,” he said.
Loss of business for restaurants is not limited to his establishments around MSG, but all over town. “People from all over the country come in to watch games,” O'Hurley said. “Now they don’t come in because there are no games.”
