NBA Lockout Fallout

NBA Lockout Over but Leaving Lasting Effects

By Carrie O’Brien

Saturday, December, 3, 2011

NBA Owners and Players have come to a tentative agreement to end the five-month long labor dispute and subsequent lockout. However, the effects of the lockout on Memphis businesses, displaced workers and future ticket sales may last much longer.  Pending inking the agreement, the 2011-12 NBA season will resume on Christmas Day. The fourth lockout in NBA history started July 1st and ended with a handshake deal on November 26.

An abbreviated 66-game season as opposed to the usual 82-game season has made a huge dent in the pocketbook to many associated with the Grizzlies. The Greater Memphis Chamber commissioned a study that stated that the FedEx Forum supports 1,534 full time jobs per year.  All of those people are without pay for the 16 games missed due to the lockout. There are also people associated with televising the Grizzlies broadcast that work free-lance that depend on the income generated by working the games. Eddie Goss, who runs clock and score graphics for Grizzlies broadcasts, was contemplating retirement from his full-time production job at CBS affiliate Channel 3 this year. Goss was just going to work freelance jobs for primary income before the lockout.

 “I’ve been picking up a volleyball game or soccer game here and there out of town, but now I can’t retire this year. Oh well, maybe next year,” says Goss.

Still others, who solely freelance for their income have taken an even bigger financial hit due to the lockout. Shawne Child, a camera operator, works all the home games for the Grizzlies and Tigers and has for over 11 years. He is very frustrated with the lockout so far this year.

 “This is killing everybody. The Grizzlies are 30 percent of my income,” says Child.

Bars and restaurants in and around the Forum have been suffering without the NBA, too. The games can mean the difference in a very busy or a very slow night on Beale Street.  Chico Smith, a bartender at The Absinthe Room on Beale depends on Grizzlies fans coming to his establishment before and after games. He says locals come in before the game to eat and have a drink before walking over to the FedEx Forum for a game and if their team wins they come back to celebrate . “It’s really going to affect my money. I depend on locals,” said Smith. Wilber Hensley, Manager of several clubs on Beale including Blues City and Club 152, worries about the lack of fans flocking in when weather is cold. “As long as it is warm, we are OK. When it gets cold, that’s when we depend on the Grizzlies fans.”

The lockout has affected fans, too. Some fans are disgruntled after buying season tickets and then having the season abbreviated. Johnny and Ashley Parker of Bartlett bought tickets this year and were very disappointed upon hearing of the lockout. They received a refund for their tickets but are wary of next year. Johnny Parker says he thinks the lockout is crazy, “I will think twice before I buy again for sure.”

Christopher Hawkins, 37, of Memphis, is fed up with the NBA all together. Hawkins has been a Grizzlies season ticket holder for eight of the team’s 10 seasons in Memphis. He and two friends were going to buy tickets this year until the NBA lockout, but gave up in August after a month of disputes between the NBA owners and players.

“I have no real interest in supporting –financially- the NBA at this point. I mean, I will still watch the games, because I’m a Memphian and we’re all basketball freaks and I love basketball, but will I be going to games? No,” says Hawkins.

Assuming that everything between the NBA owners and the players goes as planned and the lockout ending deal is ratified, the Grizzlies will start home play at the FedEx Forum on December 28 against the Oklahoma City Thunder. The fourth lockout in NBA history started July 1st and ended with a handshake deal on November 26. Players were allowed back in to team practice facilities on Thursday, December 1^st. The main issues between the 29 NBA owners and 450 players has been revenue sharing and the restructuring of the salary cap.  The Grizzlies made it to the second round of the NBA playoffs last year for the first time in franchise history. 

Click here to see the Greater Memphis Chamber study on the FedEx Forum. Click here to see NBA season opener schedule.