Salt Lake City businesses celebrating end of NBA lockout
Downtown Salt Lake City businesses have been suffering an economic backlash from the NBA lockout, but with a tentative deal being announced Saturday morning, business owners and managers are breathing a sigh of relief.
The NBA season is scheduled to start on Christmas Day, meaning Utah businesses have lost the revenue from eight home games. Each home game brings about $1 million to the state, according to Utahbusiness.com. That loss hurts everyone from business owners to parking staff.
We staff up, we get everyone ready and excited, then the word comes down there are no games so now you gotta cut shifts," said Neil Mason, manager for the Z'Tejas at the Gateway.
Mason says each home game increases business by about 20 percent for the restaurant. The end of the lockout means more shifts and more money for downtown businesses.
"This morning a lot of buzz, you could almost breath now," said Mason.
While many fans are excited for the announcement of the belated season, others are expressing frustration over the lockout.
"I'm glad they finally made a deal and ironed things out. There's no reason to argue over millions of dollars when people are struggling to pay their bills," said Chris Bettinson, parking attendant.
The Utah Jazz released a statement Saturday saying they hope to start playing around Christmas day.
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