The costs of a lockout could be enormous, particularly if the entire season were lost. In that case, the league’s most valuable franchises, including the New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers, stand to lose more than $200 million each in revenue, according to estimates by Forbes.
Beyond owners and players, however, a lockout would be no less painful to countless restaurants, bars, and retail stores that depend on the NBA for foot traffic and sales. Many are only beginning to recover from the recession.
I know here at St. John’s Detroit we stand to lose income from parking from the NFL lockout if games are missed When the NHL had a lockout lots of local businesses suffered here in Hockeytown.