Miami May Lose $200M From NBA Lockout

LeBron James might disappear in the fourth quarter of playoff games, but should the NBA regular season vanish, a big chunk of the South Florida economy may go up in smoke.

Economists tell CBS Miami that South Florida may suffer $200 million in losses if there is no pro basketball this year. Need an example of the shortfall? CBS reports parking near the American Airlines Arena is now going for three bucks.

And the lockout will do major damage to other cities, too.

In Cleveland, WOIO reports up to 35 percent of downtown restaurants’ annual revenue comes from NBA games.

Portland says no Blazers games translates to a $59 million hit, Oklahoma City claims it will lose $60 million if Kevin Durant doesn’t play, and Tony Parker’s Spurs are worth an astonishing $90 million to the businesses of San Antonio.

Though Miami will feel it the worst, some believe the whole reason for the lockout itself is the Heat’s ability to add James and Chris Bosh last year during free agency. Small market owners want to make sure that never happens again.

Of course, it’s not just local cities that will need a major league stimulus plan. Bloomberg reports that Tuesday is the day pro basketball players were supposed to get their first paychecks of the 2011-12 NBA season.
With the games on hold, the NBA’s players are missing out on an average game check of $425,000.

As a whole, the National Basketball Association has an annual revenue of about $4.3 billion, with more than $1.1 billion of that figure coming from gate receipts last season.

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