The Indiana Pacers are far from the only National Basketball Association franchise hurting financially. And the pain isn’t
just striking small market teams.
While the first round of the playoffs rages on, several NBA teams are closing their financial books on the season.
The New Jersey Nets are showing an 8 percent revenue decline in the 12-month period that ended Jan. 31. The Nets’ financial results are detailed in the recently released financial disclosures of Forest City Enterprises, a publicly traded Cleveland-based real estate company which owns 23 percent of the team.
While the Nets’ revenue was down to $92.4 million during the most recent fiscal year, its losses were up, to $27.8 million. That compares to a $22.6 million loss during the previous fiscal year. The losses have escalated dramatically since 2006, when the team lost $9.5 million.
Indiana Pacers officials, meanwhile, have told city leaders the franchise-including what it pays to operate Conseco Fieldhouse-will lose about $30 million this year. The Pacers did improve their per-game attendance from 12,221 last year to 14,182 this year. That ranks 28th in the 30-team league, well below the 17,445 league average.
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And this is coming from a Pacers Ticket Package holder. It's easy to just bash the NBA from afar, but I see it and try to follow it, but it isn't what it used to be... and I'm still in my 20s and can see that clear as day.
The Pacers did do a solid job of reaching out, running a solid marketing campaign, lowering prices, and making some needed changes. They have enough talent to work with, some cap room now, and if they can get Mike D healthy, fill Rasho's cap void, keep Jack happy enough to stay, and get some defense, they will see a nice jump up the East's standings next year.
The Pacers have not opened their books...so it's hard to tell how much of what they say is comprehensive or even true.
The reason the NBA players have a union is that before they had a union they had no rights as players, as employees. They had no pension. It's why anyone joins a union.
As for Stern, note that some months the NBA gets more revenue from China than it gets from North America. Suggesting that Stern hasn't been forward looking is silly.