Silver: Financial hit from pandemic may not be so bad
The NBA may emerge from the pandemic on better financial footing than it first anticipated, though Commissioner Adam Silver warned Tuesday that it’s too early to declare things fully back to normal.
Silver, at his annual preNBA Finals news conference, said he believes the league weathered the pandemic and all that came with it — including much less revenue from the lack of fans in arenas for much of the last 15 months — relatively well, noting that even he was surprised to see many teams were able to have full buildings during the playoffs.
“Financially, for the season, without getting into it too specifically, we did somewhat better than we initially projected,” Silver said.
Silver had said that the lack of in-game revenue — ticket sales, concessions, food and drink and the like — may have meant the league would see a 40% dip in that cash stream. But, in part because some arenas had fans later in the regular season and then more than 1 million tickets being sold in playoff games, that dip could be closer to 33%.
“No question, the league will incur significant losses over the past two years,” Silver said. “I will say though, I’m not here to complain about that. Just speaking for our team owners, they view it as a long-term investment in the league and something very necessary to keep these organizations going. And by the way, it was shared sacrifice by our players as well.”
Players took “significant reductions” in salary this season, Silver said, something that was negotiated by the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association. That hit will be spread out over several seasons. The league — which estimated its loss in revenue from last season at $1.5 billion — plans on returning to normal this fall, with the season starting in mid-October and likely being of the common 82-game duration.
The number of games is still in some question because the play-in tournament isn’t officially back for next season, though it has long been expected that the league’s board of governors will keep it going forward.
“If things continue on track and we can move toward a new season next year that looks a lot more like normal, we’ll have weathered it very well,” Silver said.
Phoenix Suns forward Dario Saric did not return to Game 1 of the NBA Finals after suffering a right knee injury late in the first quarter.
Without Saric, the Suns turned to Torrey Craig for
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said financial losses due to the pandemic may not be as bad as first projected.
more minutes in the first half and also used Frank Kaminsky, who hasn’t played much in the postseason.
Saric’s right knee appeared to buckle when he landed on a jump stop while trying to score against Milwaukee’s Brook Lopez. Shortly afterwards, he limped off the court and into the locker room.
ESPN has replaced Rachel Nichols as its sideline reporter for the NBA Finals following a report detailing critical comments she made about Black colleague Maria Taylor.
The network announced Tuesday that Malika Andrews would handle that role for the series between the Phoenix Suns and Milwaukee Bucks.
Nichols, who is white, has been the sideline reporter for its top national games this season and for last year’s NBA Finals. But the switch was made after The New York Times reported Sunday on her comments last year, when she learned Taylor would lead the network’s studio show instead of her during the league’s restart at Walt Disney World.
In a phone conversation that was accidentally recorded and the Times obtained, Nichols said: “I wish Maria Taylor all the success in the world — she covers football, she covers basketball. If you need to give her more things to do because you are feeling pressure about your crappy longtime record on diversity — which, by the way, I know personally from the female side of it — like, go for it. Just find it somewhere else. You are not going to find it from me or taking my thing away.”
The Times’ report said the show’s crew was angry with Nichols, who apologized Monday while hosting “The Jump.”
Nichols will continue to host that daily weekday basketball show onsite during the finals.
Taylor will again host the NBA Finals pregame and halftime shows, though the New York Post reported that her contract ends later this month and she had rejected an extension.