Sports may withstand slow times

NEW YORK – A sports fan faced with rising mortgage payments and a sagging stock portfolio might think twice about buying a ticket to a game.

But the reality of sports business is this: Those concerns don’t matter much to the bottom lines of major league teams.

Amid the talk of bank bailouts and slumping housing prices, the sports world chugs along – not quite oblivious, but not as anxious as some other industries, either.

“We are concerned, as I’m sure all businesses are during a recession,” NBA deputy commissioner Adam Silver said. “I’m not prepared to say we’re recession-proof. I think to an extent we’re recession-resistant, though.”

Analysts who follow sports leagues agree.

“The big ones really do have an aura of being somewhat detached from short-term economic swings,” said George Van Horn of IBISWorld, which evaluates a wide range of industries. During the 2001 recession, he said, the sports business continued to grow, just at a slower rate.

One main reason is that the major sports leagues derive so much revenue from long-term television contracts, which guarantee stable income.

TV also plays into the equation in another way. Let’s say many fans, feeling a crunch on their discretionary income, start attending fewer games. But they still care deeply about their teams, meaning they watch more of the action on TV. Higher ratings can mean more money for the leagues.

“Even if they don’t go to games, they’re still consuming it,” said David Carter, executive director of the University of Southern California’s Sports Business Institute.

History shows that economic downturns don’t seem to drain fans’ passion, no matter what happens to their pocketbooks.

“In some cases, that fandom is a sanctuary during difficult times,” Silver said.

Representatives for Ticketmaster and StubHub said the companies have not noticed any decrease in ticket sales.

Carter predicted that if sports leagues feel the pinch from a recession, it will be because of spending cuts by corporations – whose money they’ve become more reliant on than that of individual fans.

“The guy in the seat is less significant than 20 years ago,” Van Horn said.