Abstract:
Lockouts are an unfortunate part of the sports industry, because they can very easily lead to the loss of games played. This not only hurts the owners of the franchises because they cannot make any revenue for their business, but it also hurts the league’s players because they cannot earn their paychecks if they are not able to play games. What is worse for a locked out league is that the loss of games means a loss of interest for the fans of respective teams. Unfortunately for the game of basketball, the sport’s top league has undergone its second work stoppage in less
Than 15 years. This thesis will analyze the effects of the past two work stoppages for the National Basketball Association (NBA), in order to determine whether or not these lockouts hurt the league’s popularity with the fans. This thesis will take a look at important factors, including local and national television ratings, as well as game attendance factors for fans. These factors will be compared between both the 1999 and 2011 NBA lockouts in order to determine whether or not this past season’s work stoppage hurt the league's popularity with fans of the sport.
