Magic to Pay City of Orlando $2.8 Million if NBA Season is Canceled


The Orlando Sentinel looks into how much money the city is missing out on due to the NBA lockout, and reveals that the Magic would owe Orlando quite a bit of scratch in arena fees, should the entire NBA season go down the tubes: “The NBA’s labor dispute is hitting this region hard, just as many people predicted it would. Game-night workers, businesses near Amway Center and local hoteliers are all are being hurt by the ongoing lockout, which is in its 145th day today. The city coffers are impacted, too. City government officials emphasize that the Magic are obligated to pay the city $2.8 million even if the entire season is canceled, so the city has some degree of protection from the effects of work stoppage, especially as it incurs some expenses in running the building. ‘It was one of our lead negotiating points in the contract when we did the negotiations with the Magic,’ the executive director of the city’s venues, Allen Johnson, told me in September. ‘We never anticipated a [lockout]. We never wanted one.’ But the city is missing out on the additional revenue Magic home games generate, although city officials note that the city also incurs a total of $62,800 in expenses per game. An Orlando Sentinel public-records request reveals that during the entire 2010-11 season, including the preseason and the postseason, the city received $1,571,462 in facility fees through ticket sales. The city also took in a total of $1,612,098 in revenue (before sales tax and operating expenses were deducted) from game-night parking at the Geico Garage and the Church Street Garage.”