NBA Regular Season Games Canceled as Lockout Continues

By J. Brigham | Posted Tuesday, October 18

Commissioner David Stern announced last week that he would have no other choice but to cancel some of the early season NBA games. Stern called off the first two weeks of regular season games after seven hours of deliberations between players and owners brought no agreement. No official meetings have been set up since that time, and Stern says that with every passing day there will be further cancellations. One hundred individual games make up the span of those initial two weeks. The cancellation constitutes the first league-wide stoppage in over ten years.

NBA Venues Shuttered Until Strike Ends

Economically, this situation is tragic for all involved. An estimated eighty three million dollars will be lost by mid November, on ticket sales alone. That figure doesn't include concessions revenue, parking, or merchandise. Include everything, and the losses are well over one hundred million. Thousands of arena employees who were expecting their first pay checks of the season are now out of work. Many have been laid off, and those who are still working are expecting massive pay cuts. Long before the lockout began, players were warned to watch their spending. Rightly so, says deputy commissioner Adam Silver. Some expect that athletes could lose upwards of three hundred and fifty million dollars for every month that they don't play. Not only are the players and venue employees unhappy, television networks are up in arms over the loss in revenue. Last season, we saw ratings soar for NBA games.