NBA Lockout Cripples Local Businesses
Every year, in early October, local businesses in Downtown Los Angeles expect the Clippers and Lakers to begin attracting large crowds to the area, but this year a protracted NBA Lockout kept customers away.
Bryan Lytle, general manager of the Palm Restaurant, which is located a block away from the Staples Center on South Flower Street, was one of many restaurant managers and employees who dispelled the myth that the NBA lockout merely hurt the players, team owners and fans.
“The financial aspect of it runs far deeper than just the players and the owners,” said Lytle. “(There is) the impact on the overall cities and you know we have two NBA teams, so you can say double the impact.”
Abe Kim, assistant manager at the Downtown LA Hooters, agreed.
“I know Downtown LA is more of a business-oriented city, so whatever is going on in the city affects businesses all over,” said Kim.
“With the lockout, I know a few restaurants I used to go to in Downtown LA are hurting, because they bank on those revenues coming from the fans and the people going to these games to generate those revenues in sales.”
By late October, various restaurants located in the LA Live entertainment complex that is adjacent to the Staples Center were already feeling the effects of significantly less foot traffic.
Lawry’s Carvery a restaurant located in LA Live, reduced employee hours as a result of the lockout.
“It does affect the employees, because a lot of times also we have to cut staff because there’s not enough work to cover all the staff we have,” said manager Jeffery Brown.
“Well, we have around 10 employees whose numbers have been reduced in terms of cutting their schedule and that kind of stuff.”
Jael Bullard, a cashier at Lawry’s Carvery, had seen a significant reduction in her weekly hours.
“I’m working about 20 hours, sometimes a little bit more, but when there wasn’t a lockout I was probably working closer to 30 hours, so it’s a big difference,” said Bullard.
In past years, Bullard worked five days per week, but during the lockout, she was only working three or four days per week.
Fortunately, no Lawry’s Carvery employee had been laid off as a result of the lockout, but some did quit due to the reduction in their hours, according to Bullard.
In addition, job applicants have to be turned away due to the lack of business.
“A lot of people come and ask for applications, but we have to tell them we’re not really hiring,” said Bullard.
Just two doors down from Lawry’s Carvery, sits ESPN Zone, a sports-themed restaurant chain that is also located in LA Live, across the street from the Staples Center.
Cirenia Ramirez, who has worked as a server at ESPN Zone for the last three years, noticed a similar change.
“I think it’s been very slow compared to last year around this time, because we didn’t have a preseason (or the first two months of the regular season) for basketball,” said Ramirez.
“Compared to last year, we’d probably have three or four servers on the floor during the day (and) have a full house full of servers for the night shifts if there was a Lakers game.
“But since there’s no games going on, we definitely have less hours, less employees coming in, people having second jobs.”
Palm Restaurant has also had to reduce the hours of its staff according to Lytle.
“You don’t have the same business volume, so indirectly these people are losing a shift or two shifts a week that they would come accustomed to this time of year,” said Lytle.
Situated one block from the Staples Center on Figueroa Street, Hooters was also adversely affected by the lockout.
“We were definitely reduced,” said general manager Laura Acton.
“We didn’t have to lay anybody off. However, many of the girls were hoping to work five days a week, (and we) probably cut that in half.”
“When the lockout happened and the summer continued, a lot of girls lost hours,” confirmed M.L. Deasis, a server at Hooters, who also bartends and trains new employees.
“We lost a lot of girls. I think we started off with more than a hundred girls and honestly, I think now we’re down to 30 something.”
Hooters opened its Downtown LA location on July 11 with the expectation that the Kings, Lakers and Clippers would begin attracting crowds to the area the following fall. Much to Acton’s dismay, only the Kings were able to bring crowds to the area.
“When we opened the store, we anticipated being very busy for the Lakers and the Clippers and the NBA season as a whole,” said Acton.
Without Lakers and Clippers games, Acton estimated that the store lost about half of the amount of business they had projected for November and December.
“Looking at their schedule when we opened, we anticipated in November and December there being events at Staples Center almost every day in those two months,” said Acton. “Without them playing, that was reduced by almost two-thirds.”
During the offseason, Lawry’s Carvery had grown accustomed to drawing smaller crowds, but it has regularly relied on NBA crowds for Clippers and Lakers games to boost its business between the months of October and June.
“I just think it’s sad, because we were expecting the basketball season, and we were just waiting for our hours to get bumped back up, and we’re still kind of in that no-hours stage,” said Bullard.
Brown estimated that on nights when there would have been a basketball game, sales were reduced by at least 33 percent.
“Well basically we would do almost $300 a day, $15 a person, right around there, and right now, we’re down to $200 a day, $150,” said Brown.
“It’s pretty critical.”
According to Brown, if there were an NBA game, the restaurant would have 16 workers, but since there was not, there were only two employees in the back and one cashier for a total of three workers, excluding the manager. 
The lockout has made LA Live appear deserted on certain nights, according to Bullard. “When there are no events, it’s really, really dead,” said Bullard.
“We might get 10 people from the time I’m here, which is five to nine some nights, and when there’s games, we’ll get a line all the way down the street all night.”
ESPN Zone and Hooters, two restaurants that have especially missed professional basketball, devised unique strategies to attract customers during the lockout.
“We now have more consistent lunch specials,” said Ramirez.
In addition, ESPN Zone has added various promotions in an effort to improve business. “I know we have beer promotions that we try to pull people in,” said Ramirez.
Meanwhile, Hooters focused on fans of the only team that was currently playing at Staples Center.
“We put our focus more on Kings and the NHL,” said Acton.
“We did a five-free wing giveaway to everyone in the stadium on their home opener.
“Other than that, we concentrated more on just Veteran’s Day. We ran a promotion giving away free sandwiches to the military.”
“Our management has been trying to improve our service, too,” added Ramirez.
In previous seasons, demand for ESPN Zone was so high that many of the aforementioned promotions were not needed.
“We would normally have people coming in before a game and after the game,” said Ramirez.
“Before the game, we would have a full house, maybe 700 people would sit down to have dinner, maybe more, and we’d probably turn a lot of tables before the game.
“But since then, we’ve just been depending on hockey games and whatever events are going on, like concerts.”
But even when the Kings are able to attract a sizable crowd to Staples Center, the timing of the games has inhibited restaurants like Palm from making the money that NBA games would allow them to make, according to Lytle.
“It’s not the same to the extent that the Kings’ schedule is much different than what an NBA schedule is,” said Lytle.
“So the Kings will play a lot during the afternoon and that’s some of our downtime on the weekends, so we’re not able to capture those sales.
“But the Kings on a night game would probably be comparable to a Clipper game as far as attendance is concerned.”
The NBA owners began the work stoppage on July 1, and the labor impasse was not resolved until the early morning hours of Saturday, November 26, when the players and owners finally reached a tentative deal to save the season.
Many of the league’s teams had been losing money, so its owners proposed to significantly alter the current system, changes that were drastic enough to scare the player’s association.
These dramatic changes and the refusal of the players to accept them directly resulted in an inability for the sides to settle on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement until November 26.
A 66-game season had been scheduled for each team, in which the Lakers and Clippers would play 33 regular season home games, apiece.
Due to the lockout, the amount of regular season NBA home games at Staples Center was reduced from 82 to 66, a reduction of nearly 20 percent. In addition, nine preseason games were lost.
The NBA originally scheduled 11 preseason games to be played at Staples Center, but the revised schedule only called for a mere two preseason home games between the Lakers and Clippers combined.
With the lockout winding down and the NBA regular season set to begin in less than two weeks, local restaurants expect to see larger crowds and consequently, a need for more employees.
“We’ve rounded out our schedules with probably three or four new positions and still yet have a couple to fulfill,” said Lytle.
Hooters is also looking to hire, according to Acton: “Being that it’s over now, we’re just basically really excited, trying to get people hired, because we definitely did stop hiring when we knew the lockout had come.”
In fact, Hooters has already begun hiring employees.
“I know a lot of girls have been hired,” said Deasis. “I have been training a lot of new girls, and I know a lot of the other girls who are certified trainers here have also been training girls whenever they’ve been working shifts lately.”
“They (ESPN Zone managers) are, of course, going to give us more hours, and they’re looking for more people right now at this moment,” said Ramirez. “So definitely we are waiting for an increase in sales, an increase in hours and an increase in employment also.”
However, an expectation of increased hours was not confined to ESPN Zone.
“I definitely am going to ask for more hours once NBA kicks in,” said M.L. Deasis.
“Rather than somebody picking up three shifts a week, they’re now going to get five shifts a week,” said Lytle.
For Ramirez, the end to the lockout could not have come at a better time. “(I am) very happy, because we definitely need that money. It is Christmas time so we want to have money for our presents and family time and vacation,” said Ramirez.
Ramirez expressed further happiness for her friends, who were most directly impacted by the lockout. “Of course, I’m very happy for all the Staples Center employees, because a lot of them are my friends, and they’ve been having tough times,” said Ramirez.
With the NBA’s return, two more teams (the Clippers and Lakers) will be playing at Staples Center, whereas many cities are not so lucky.
“Having two teams is always a bonus,” said Kim. “The fact that whenever there’s a home game, there’s going to be people coming to the stadium, and we’re collecting that overflow before and after.”
Although Deasis said she is excited that Hooters will attract larger crowds in the coming months, she explained that a different challenge would emerge.
“I think what’s going to be important is managing the door when customers are waiting in line and keeping people happy who are waiting for 10, 20, 30 minutes just for a table and then giving them great service as soon as they sit down,” according to Deasis.
However, Deasis maintained that her staff has had some valuable experience serving large crowds in the store’s opening months. “Even though there hasn’t been NBA, we have been at capacity on some nights where there was a double convention and a Kings game, so we definitely know what it’s like to have a full house,” said Deasis.
Abe Kim said he is also expecting large crowds at Hooters once the NBA regular season commences on December 25.
“I worked at (the) Santa Monica (location) previous to coming to this store, back in September, and when we had the NBA over there, every Laker game, we had a full house, so I’m expecting the same,” said Kim.
“People who don’t go to the game come here since we have 32 TVs and whatnot and a whole sound system and plenty of seating.
“Those are always great days, because there’s always going to be people here before and here for the game, and people stay after if the Lakers win to celebrate and whatnot.”
Although Yard House management from the LA Live location declined to comment, marketing manager Aurea Victoria issued this statement via email: “Our LA Live location has been affected just as the rest of the local restaurants and businesses in our area. We are glad to know that the lockout is officially over and look forward to a great NBA season.”
Kim expressed similar optimism: “(When) the store opened, it was a rough start, but we’re getting there.”
“We’re doing our best and showing we got what it takes to be at the corner of the Convention Center and Staples.
“So when people come in, they’re going to enjoy themselves.”