Pro Sports

NEW YORK — The tumult in the U.S. economy finally is starting to affect an industry that has enjoyed years of growth — major league sports.

The NBA is laying off employees. Major League Baseball attendance has dropped after four straight record years. The NFL says revenue is under pressure.

While the symptoms are relatively mild so far, the latest developments say something about how far financial woe has spread in a nation where the appetite for sports seems ever-expanding.

"I used to come to maybe eight or 10 games a year, but this year it was only four
games on three trips," said
Jack Maloney, a Cleveland Indians fan who watched his team play at home against Kansas City last weekend. "The price of tickets has gone up, you've got to pay to park, the price of food at the ballpark is ridiculous, and so are the gas prices. I'm glad we filled up Friday. It was $3.67 then. This morning, it was $3.99. That's just stupid."

NBA commissioner David Stern said his league intends to trim at least 50 of the 800 jobs in its U.S. work force, more than 6 percent, and says the NBA has shuttered its league office in Los Angeles.

"Our revenue targets are still being met," Stern said. "But we know that there's going to be enormous pressure on those targets in the next year or two, based on the country's deteriorating economic circumstances.

"I think it's fair to say that a sporting event may well define disposable income," he said.

Make no mistake — America's major leagues still take in billions of dollars, with individual team incomes varying through a sliding equation that includes tickets, luxury suites, national and local broadcasting, sponsorship, advertising, concessions, parking and licensing.

But executives throughout sports are taking a new look at expenses, fearing the boom years may be over in a business that once seemed recession-proof.

Last winter and spring, coming off baseball's first season topping $6 billion in revenue, commissioner Bud Selig was saying the sport could break 80 million in attendance for the first time. Indeed, during the opening half of the season, MLB was at times slightly ahead of last year's pace.

Heading into the final two weeks of the regular season, however, average attendance was 32,553, down about 1 percent from last year's record of 32,785.

"I think 80 million was a realistic expectation based on the prior four years," said Bob DuPuy, baseball's chief operating officer. "But to draw 79 million or 78 million or 79.5 million or 80 million, wherever we end up exactly is absolutely remarkable given the economy."

While season tickets sold before mid-2008 already are locked in, there are indications teams may face a tougher time selling seats for 2009 and beyond.

"Anything outside of rent, taxes, fuel, food, shelter, after that everything falls into the category of discretionary spending," said Bernard Baumohl, chief global economist of The Economic Outlook Group. "We may not see any significant rebound in consumer spending, especially discretionary, disposable spending, until 2010."

The NFL has set regular-season attendance records for five straight years, drawing 17.3 million fans last season and averaging 67,738. But darker times may be ahead, at least when it comes to the bottom line.

Across the board, tickets prices have risen steadily.

Baseball's average increased 10 percent this year to $25.43 and the NFL's went up 8 percent to $72.20, according to the Team Marketing Report. The NBA's average was $48.83 last season and the NHL's $48.72, TMR said.

Team coverage in many newspapers has been cut back, with media budgets battered by advertising and readership declines.
That translates into a decreased presence in print for teams.

Kevin Kolb, a Royals fan from Pleasant Valley, Mo., complained that souvenirs and concessions were too expensive.

"It costs $50 for us to buy hots, Cokes and nachos," said Kolb, who had his son and daughter in tow.