Crunch Time For NBA, Venues

Even if the NBA’s player lockout is settled quickly, any idea of extending the season to make up those lost games will run into scheduling conflicts at some venues.

AEG-owned Staples Center in Los Angeles and New York’s Madison Square Garden are among them.

Speculation is rife that the season could be extended to fit in a full 82-game schedule, and the playoffs pushed back as late as July, if an agreement can be reached soon, according to the Los Angeles Times. The first two weeks of the 2011-12 season have already been scrapped.

But a lack of flexibility in venue calendars, with non-sports dates locked in after the end of the NBA Finals, currently scheduled in June, could make that difficult.

“I’ve heard talk that the players and owners would look to add games past the drop-dead date of the NBA Finals, June 21 – I know they are tinkering with that,” Staples Center GM Lee Zeidman told the Times. Staples Center is home to the L.A. Lakers and Clippers NBA teams. “It can never happen here.”

New York’s Madison Square Garden, home of the New York Knicks, is another venue with other plans after June 21 – a billion-dollar renovation project scheduled to ramp up in the summer months.

“On June 22, 23 and 24, I have tentative concert holds, and at 4 a.m. June 25, I’m contractually obligated to allow ESPN to start loading [the arena] for the X Games that start June 30,” Zeidman told the Times. “Then, right after that, I have Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey Circus coming July 9-15.”

With restoration of lost games believed to be on the table as a negotiating chip giving urgency to a rapid settlement, venues are under the gun to consider how to shoehorn in makeup dates. And Staples would be particularly under pressure.

“With two NBA teams, we’re challenged to fill in any dates during the season with the [NHL] Kings, Disney on Ice, the Pac-12 [college basketball] tournament, concerts and the Grammys,” Zeidman told the paper. “Once they figure it out, it’ll be tight in this building.”

The alternative – scrapping the entire season – isn’t a pleasant one to consider, either.

“Potentially losing all these dates, needing to worry about the employees and the suite owners, we’re actually trying to create things now,” Zeidman continued. “We’re mining the concert field, considering beach volleyball, roller derby, a concert series with new bands.

“We don’t need sellouts at this point, but we’d like to bring in 4,000 to 7,000 people on these nights we’re losing. We need to keep the building working.” As well as Staples Center’s 4,000 or so part-time employees, all of whom could be victims of the NBA’s labor dispute.