Potentially Cancelled NBA Season Could Mean $500M Loss In Ticket Revenue

Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the NBA halted its season. However, the league could be taking a huge financial blow.

At this time, the season has been suspended for 30 days, but if that number increases, the league could face a loss, after already receiving a several hundred million dollar hit from a controversy with China. NBC’s Tom Haberstroh reported that a source said the NBA makes an average of $1.2 million in gate revenue per regular season game and $2 million for each playoff game.

“With 259 of 1,230 regular season games remaining, that means roughly $300 million of ticket revenue lost if fans couldn’t purchase tickets,” Haberstroh said. “Over the past decade, on average, there have been 83 playoff games in each postseason, which would lead to another loss of about $166 million. That’s nearly $500 million in estimated lost ticket revenue if the NBA doesn’t allow fans to attend the full slate of games.”

While these numbers are just gate revenue, they do not include sale from team merchandise like jerseys, foam fingers, and more.

At this time, the CBA might allow the league to withhold a portion of a players’ salary due to the circumstances surrounding the pandemic and games that were missed. There might potentially be less money for teams to spend next offseason as well, since the league already reduced the projected salary cap for next season.

The NBA is just one of the sports leagues affected by coronavirus; last week, the NHL and MLS suspended operations, while the MLB delayed its season opening game. Other major sporting events like the BNP Paribas Open and the Masters Tournament 2020 have been cancelled, while the Kentucky Derby has been postponed.