Thanks to COVID-19, the National Basketball Association was forced to take an unprecedented break in their season. Play was abruptly stopped in March and we have yet to see action resume.
The thing is, all this lost time has cost the NBA over $1 billion and the Lakers, basketball’s “golden boy” franchise, is likely to suffer the most.
Loss of ticket revenue and television revenue are two of the biggest blows the NBA faced. According to ticketiQ, the league is set to lose around $1.7 billion in ticket market value. The worst affected team will be the Los Angeles Lakers, who are estimated to lose around $82 million.
The Lakers will be earning around $12 million from broadcast rights for the upcoming games. But they lose $8 million because they won’t be able to play their 82 regular-season games.
The Lakers are among the NBA’s highest-earning teams, so it makes sense that they’d lose the most in the wake of all the financial losses.
Trailing L.A. are the Knicks, Warriors, Raptors, Celtics, and Clippers — who are all likely to lose 30+ million dollars.
Needless to say, the financial implications of this season will impact everyone in the league and we will likely see its effects for years to come. As for the Lakers, the only way this gets better for them is if they walk away this summer with the 2020 Championship. We will see soon enough how they fare in that endeavor.
