NBA Layoffs

Remember when I questioned how the economy might affect ticket sales and sports as a whole?

Here's one way:  The NBA is laying 80 people off.  Oh… and season ticket sales are dropping league wide:

LONDON — The NBA is laying off 9 percent of its work force over worries about the U.S. economy, commissioner David Stern said.

 

"We made a decision some months ago that the economy was going to be a bit wobbly, so we began a belt-tightening that will result in a work-force reduction of about 9 percent domestically," Stern said Sunday, speaking before an NBA preseason game at London's O2 arena.

This translates into about 80 jobs, he later told Reuters.

"There is a season-ticket renewal rate decline, and new sales are also being hit," he said. "My guess is when [the regular season] kicks off, we will be down modestly in season ticket sales."

The NBA is not recession proof… and neither are the Celtics.  They might be fine right now… but I'm telling you… we're going to start hearing about the Celtics cutting back in a big way in the not too distant future.  The only saving grace is the fact that they're good.  They NEED to keep winning titles just to stock up enough cash to make it through whatever lean times are coming. 

But don't expect the C's to keep paying the luxury tax when they don't have to.  Those days will be coming to an end as soon as they can.

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