Small Business Owners Getting 'Slammed' by NBA Lockout

(NewsCore) - Small business owners warned Wednesday they are getting slammed by the NBA lockout.

The battle over how players and owners will split the league's $4 billion in revenue, which led to the suspension of exhibition and regular-season games through at least Nov. 14, is bringing collateral damage to a range of businesses counting on professional basketball events to survive.

"It can be devastating for a small business to lose its peak market, which for me is the first two to three weeks of the season," said Le Anne Crounse, owner of a Fredericksburg, Texas, sports apparel retailer. "That's when everyone is excited, every team is equal and any team could still get the trophy."

NBA merchandise accounts for 12 to 15 percent of annual revenue at Crounse's company, BestSportsApparel.com. Nine months ago, she ordered $300,000 of NBA inventory. Normally, she would have already sold a third of it but has only managed to get some $20,000 out the door, she said.

"It's as if you have a good paying job and then you lose it," said Gary Fineske, a self-employed sports massage therapist who has been a contractor to the Dallas Mavericks for the past 11 seasons.

At least 60 percent of his revenue during the season last year originated from the Mavericks.

"Now, since there's no season, there's a zero there," he said.

But the NBA standoff will have minimal effect on the economy overall, according to economists.

"People will find another way to spend their entertainment dollars," said Stephen Bronars, a senior economist in Washington, D.C., for Welch Consulting, which specializes in employment practices and business litigation.

"Scholars have found that local economies are not impacted by sports work stoppages," said Andrew Zimbalist, professor of economics at Smith College in Northampton, Mass. "People spend money at one entertainment venue or another, so it's a wash."

But in cities where a basketball team is strong, there is an undeniable bump in revenue for local shops and bars.

Last season, the Mavericks played through four playoff rounds before winning the NBA championship, and the city of Dallas generated an estimated $12 to $15 million in economic benefit as a result of hosting three NBA Finals games, according to a spokesman for the Dallas Convention & Visitors Bureau.