Bloomberg reports that Stern also said that the NBA’s sales had fallen between 2.5 per cent and 5 per cent during the recession.
“Our revenues will decline slightly because our teams have responded to our fans by either freezing prices or lowering them,” Stern told reporters. “The banks have recently renewed a facility we had for more than $2 billion, so we feel pretty good in our place.”
Stern said the league would not be laying off staff – it laid off 9 per cent of its workforce in 2008 – and also that it had not made further progress on a pay deal rejected by its refereeing officials.
“We hope, but I think we know, that we’ll eventually reach a deal,” he said. “Right now we’re not discussing anything with the union. They know how to reach us. They haven’t even told us why they rejected it.”
