« Proposed Supermarket Divides Bronx Community | Main | 30 Issues Day 6: Eminent Domain »
September 30, 2009
Nets ticket revenues down nearly one-third last season
Bergen Record
by John Brennan
The New Jersey Nets made a big splash last week with the announcement of Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov’s intention to buy controlling interest in the franchise.
But in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing released late Friday afternoon, the news was much grimmer: Revenue from Nets ticket sales declined by nearly one-third last season.
The filing — detailing the bottom line of Nets Sports and Entertainment LLC — demonstrated that while announced Nets attendance figures were similar in 2007-08 and 2008-09, the ticket sale revenue nosedived to $25.9 million from $37.4 million.
“That’s a huge drop, and it wouldn’t be all because of the economy by any means,” said Jim Grinstead, editor of the Revenues from Sports Ventures newsletter.
Grinstead said it was more typical for NBA teams to see ticket sale revenues to decline about 10 to 12 percent in 2008-09, because of a need to discount tickets to entice cash-strapped customers to games.
The Nets balanced most of the ticket revenue decline with cuts in player salaries, marketing and other expenses — but still finished with an operating loss of $68.6 million in 2008-09.
NoLandGrab: The bloom appears to be off the Yormarketing Genius.
Related coverage...
SportsBusiness Daily, Nets Ticket Sales Revenue Drops By Almost One-Third In '08-09 [subscription required]
Posted by eric at September 30, 2009 10:48 AM