A really wonderful post over at Daily Finance talks about the economic impact super star players like the NBA’s LeBron James coming to town and suiting up for the home team.
The post in a nutshell:
1. Whatever team LeBron plays for has a good chance of making it into the playoffs. Playoff games will sell out, and ave a positive economic imp[act on business near where the game takes place.
2. Players like LeBron spend lots of money on property, as evicended by the houses they live in. The property / income tax the city / state will get from such aplayer can be huge. (The post sas a city like New York could make 9 million in from LeBron n five years!)
Here is a clip from the post…
Lest you think that such statistics are inflated, that there is no way one player can have such an impact both on the court and off, let history be your guide. When James was a rookie with the Cavaliers for the 2003-04 season, the team doubled its number of wins over the previous year, sold out 16 home games and saw its average attendance per game soar by 7,000 fans, to 18,288 a contest. Should James opt for the orange and blue, Madison Square Garden would see an estimated $10 million to $20 million revenue surge, according to Patrick Rishe, an economics professor at Webster University. And Forbes magazine estimated that the team’s valuation would climb $150 million, to over $700 million.
Who said econ nerds don’t follow sports?
Tags: draft, Economics, Finance, & Money, free agent, LeBron James, NBA, New York