The economic impact stretches to the Wells Fargo Center employees and non-basketball revenue such as parking and concessions.
Peter Luukko is the president and chief operating officer of Comcast-Spectacor, which owns and operates the Wells Fargo Center. The company also owns the Sixers until the NBA's Board of Governors approves Comcast-Spectacor's sale of the franchise to a group of investors led by New York billionaire Joshua Harris, a move expected as early as this week.
On Tuesday, Inquirer staff writer Kate Fagan posed these questions about the economic impact these cancellations will have on the Wells Fargo Center and its employees to Luukko.
Question: Do you have an approximate number of Wells Fargo Center employees who will be affected by the cancellation of games?
Luukko: With over 250 annual events, the Wells Fargo Center is one of the busiest arenas in the country. We have nearly 500 part-time employees working these events. If there should be a complete loss of a season, we're looking at missing 41 very important dates.
At the same time we will still have over 200-plus events creating plenty of opportunities for our part-time staff. Should a full season be lost, we will possibly be able to recoup a couple of those dates, but we are optimistic that a season will be played and we won't have to be in a situation where we lose a full season.
Q: Is it possible to estimate the amount of total lost wages, per game, for all of those employees?
Luukko: As a privately held company, we don't disclose financials.
Q: Is it possible to fill the canceled NBA dates, or is it too late at this point?
Luukko: We remain optimistic that we will have an NBA season. As far as filling the dates from the cancellation of these first four games, there are other factors that go into filling dates. For example, are there shows on the road that have available dates?
