Even in losing seasons, the Knicks were an economic slam-dunk for Madison Square Garden and surrounding businesses.
But with all NBA games cancelled through the end of November — and potentially longer if a contract deal between team owners and players isn’t reached Saturday — lucrative markets such as New York are going to be the real losers, observers said.
“From what I gather, there’s no other [event] that does as well for the Garden as the Knicks,” said Robert Boland, a sports business professor at NYU’s Tisch Center. “The Garden … in the larger sense can live for a month — but every other [cancelled] game after is significant because they’re losing their best product.”
http://www.amny.com/urbanite-1.812039/nba-lockout-bad-business-for-the-garden-and-knicks-1.3295162
