NEW YORK (Reuters) – Number crunchers have come up with an unexpected conclusion about the National Basketball Association’s decision to cut short its season: There may actually be a few economic winners.
As NBA owners and players broke off talks this week, chances increased that the league will soon be forced to cancel more games, if not the entire season. Already, it has scrapped the preseason and the first two weeks of the regular season, frustrating fans from Los Angeles to Miami.
That’s bad news for arena employees, TV networks and restaurants and small businesses that rely on the games to bring in customers.
But for those fans who spend a collective $170 million a year to buy season tickets to NBA games, there’s a silver lining to the lockout — albeit a thin one.
New York Knicks season ticketholders, for instance, can receive a refund on any missed games, plus a 1 percent annual interest payment for money in their account with the team. For those willing to skip the refund — and instead apply the money to next season’s tickets — the Knicks have offered to pay 2 percent interest.
The Los Angeles Lakers offered to pay an even more impressive interest rate
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