The NBA laid off around 114 employees over the last two days in an effort to cut costs. A league spokesman said Wednesday that the cost-cutting layoffs were “not a direct result of the lockout.”
The laid off employees represent roughly 11% of the workforce in New Jersey, New York and internationally for the NBA. League spokesman Mike Bass spoke with the Associated Press and gave further details on the mass layoffs.
“{The lockout} not a direct result of the lockout but rather a response to the same underlying issue; that is, the league’s expenses far outpace our revenues.”
“The roughly 11 percent reduction in headcount from the league office is part of larger cost-cutting measures to reduce our costs by $50 million across all areas of our business,” Bass said.
The league said it lost $300 million this past season after losing hundred of millions in each previous year of the collective bargaining agreement which expired at the end of the day on June 30.
The NBA has lost around 275 employees since October 2008 through layoffs and leaving position vacant after employees departed. The league has also closed offices in Paris and Tokyo on top of a studio in Secaucus, N.J. where the annual draft lottery is held. The NBA Store on Fifth Avenue in New York has also been closed, but league sources claim the store will be opened in a different location.
The Detroit Pistons and Charlotte Bobcats have already cut staff since the lockout and more teams are undoubtedly going to follow.
Commissioner David Stern spoke on the lockout saying, “{The lockout} has a very large impact on a lot of people, many of whom or most of whom are not associated with either side.”
Hopefully this situation is put to rest sooner than the NFL Lockout, but it looks like it could last longer.