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.”
O'Hurley, a United Restaurant and Tavern Owners Association member, said he had to cut back his staff of more than 100 people by around 20 percent. With fewer customers, his servers and bartenders have seen their tips drop by around 40 percent.
With the holidays just around the corner, this could be problematic. Debbie Laverie, Rawls professor of marketing at Texas Tech University, who has been researching the economic impact of the NBA lockout said that New York is the biggest market in the country, but certain businesses may get hit harder than others.
“It’s restaurants and bars near the arenas that are hit bad,” Laverie said. “They are getting people pre and post game.”
Laverie added the economic impact would “vary quite a bit” depending on the market, but her research has shown “the economic impact is not as great as people think it is.”
Laverie noted that consumers will shift their spending to other kinds of recreational activities, keeping the money in the economy—not their pockets.
New York state Sen. Malcolm Smith, who hosted the press conference that O'Hurley accused NBA players and owners as being selfish. “For us, this is about everyday lives,” he said, adding, “There are real people out there and they are hurting.”
Smith organized a National Day of Solidarity on Dec. 11, encouraging season ticket holders to demand full refunds for their season tickets. Along with this, he started a petition urging NBA players and owners to settle their strike.
“The signatures we are gathering are to tell the players to get back to work,” Smith said.
Martin Silver, a Knicks season ticket holder, said he is losing money in his investment in season tickets. “They are prepaid, so all the fans are stuck. What we want is our money back,” he said.
According to the New York Post, a letter was sent to season ticket holders in July stating refunds will be given with 1 percent interest if players don’t take the court.
The Knicks did not respond to calls by press time to confirm the letter regarding customer refunds.
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