The Coronavirus Pandemic Could Cost NBA Nearly $690 Million In Ticket Revenue

The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has had serious ramifications throughout the sporting world. Events all over are shutting down to prevent the spread of the disease, and it’s making waves on various league’s financially as well. The NCAA Division I basketball tournament, better known as March Madness, which according to TicketIQ, could lose approximately $258.9 million in ticket revenue alone. But, that’s just a drop in the bucket compared to professional leagues like the NBA.

At this rate, it seems likely that the NBA will not return in time to finish regular season play, per league sources. The league hopes that they can resume play by mid to late June, and that would just be for the playoffs and to crown a new NBA Champion. Knowing that, the losses the league will suffer as whole could be devastating. According to TicketIQ, the NBA could lose nearly $690.7 million in ticket revenue due to the coronavirus outbreak. No, that isn’t including the playoffs either, which are expected to played without fans present. That massive loss is just for the remainder of the regular season.

On a team-to-team basis, which organization is going to suffer the most from the projected loss in regular season ticket revenue? Unsurprisingly, it’s the Los Angeles Lakers, who could lose approximately $82.1 million for their ten remaining regular season games, with an average ticket cost being around $432. Following the Lakers are the New York Knicks ($46.1 million), the Golden State Warriors ($42.1 million), the Toronto Raptors ($32.9 million) and the Boston Celtics ($32.3 million) to round out the top five most impacted teams for projected ticket revenue loss.

Those five teams combined ($235.5 million) account for nearly a third of the projected total of the league combined. But, even smaller market teams with cheaper tickets like the Phoenix Suns ($12.6 million), the Minnesota Timberwolves ($11.6 million), the Detroit Pistons ($10.9 million) and the Cleveland Cavaliers ($8.9 million) are still going to suffer substantial losses. To put it into layman’s terms, the approximate ticket revenue lost for each team would be equivalent to the cost of a year’s salary for player or two for any of those aforementioned teams.

Thankfully, to soften the blow of these substantial losses, the NBA expanded the line of credit organizations can tap into to $1.2 billion. Initially set at $650 million, the $550 million increase could help franchises handle their expenses for however long the suspension lasts. During a league board of governors call on Tuesday, former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy delivered a sobering reality that the league’s suspension could be much longer than expected, per league sources. With a league-wide loss of approximately $690.7 million, this certainly helps makes things easier for franchises that will be unable to access usual sources of revenue during this time.

The initial damage the coronavirus pandemic is already significant to NBA teams based off of lost projected ticket revenue alone. If you factor in other losses like concession and alcohol sales, the number becomes near-impossible to properly quantify. This is only for the remainder of the regular season, mind you. Going forward, the projected losses in playoff ticket revenue will also be severe. It remains to be seen exactly how much the NBA will lose out total in ticket revenue. Hopefully the league will be able to recover from this massive blow.