WASHINGTON (AFP) — National Basketball Association commissioner David Stern has no worries about the financial health of the 30-team league entering Tuesday's start of the 2008-2009 season.
In a conference call with reporters Thursday, Stern said the league expects attendance to remain steady with ticket revenues slightly higher and several major sponsorship renewals despite the recent worldwide economic crisis.
"We're pretty optimistic that this will be a season that will be better in our industry than it will be for some other industries," Stern said.
There were no fears by Stern about franchise collapses due to corporate trouble that some ownership groups might have in their non-sports activities.
"I have no concern whatsoever," Stern said. "We're aware of what their financial situations are. Our owners seem to be in position to weather severe storms.
"While that doesn't mean there won't be bumps for some individual markets, right now our comfort level is pretty high."
Two-thirds of NBA teams made money last year, according to Forbes magazine.
"I don't have the books in front of me but I'll bet you half of our teams are profitable," Stern said.
"We're going to be about flat in attendance, which is good news, and up a little bit in revenues, which is good news."
Economic concerns could slow the NBA's growth in European and Asian markets, Stern said, but remained certain that growth would continue even in tougher economic times.
"The economy will impact everyone but our share of the market over there is so small and the opportunity to grow so large, to grow 20 percent instead of 30 percent, that may happen," Stern said.
Economic concerns were a topic at owners meetings which just concluded.
"The owners were remarking upon the strength of the sports business and the value it provides," Stern said. "We spent time sharing ideas and talking about the state of the economy, talking about ways to keep our game relevant."
Each team offers about 1,000 tickets a game at 10 dollars and some will tweak the deal, adding free food or discounts aimed at keeping the live event affordable for supporters.
Asked about plans by Greek teams to offer big-money deals aimed at luring NBA talent to its league, Stern was confident the lower ticket sales compared to NBA teams would keep that only a threat for a handful of players at most.
"The system will not support it," Stern said. "The economic model does not exist that would support such contracts and we don't mind the competition.
"They are free to do that. There are one or two players who will benefit from it."
Stern said the league is looking to establish a labor relations committee in the upcoming season to start labor talks well ahead of a possible renewal before 2011.
Stern repeated that the league wants to stage one or two regular-season games in Europe ahead of the 2012 London Olympics but said the logistics of having an NBA All-Star Game there were too complex to expect such a move soon.
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