The financial impacts of COVID-19 continue to hit the athletics industry at all levels as Golden State Warriors owner Joe Lacob confirmed this week.
According to Sportico, Lacob said his team is facing a 70 percent loss in revenue if it doesn’t welcome fans back to the arena.
Without a local media contract, the loss of fans is a big hit for the Warriors, which recently moved into the $1.6 billion Chase Center.
“Over 70 percent of our revenue are lost when we’re in this situation without fans,” said Lacob, who spent decades at venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins.
Lacob purchased Golden State in 2010 from Peter Gruber for $450 million. The team is now worth $5.2 billion, according to Sportico.
Last year, the Warriors announced a plan to allow 50 percent capacity at the Chase Center, as the team committed to a $30 million plan to offer fans PCR test at the door and only admit those with negative tests.
“We haven’t been able to activate that yet, but we hope to be able to do that sometime this season,” Lacob said. “It’s actually very costly, but the truth is, we feel that whatever we spend on it, we will get that much back if we can have fans in the building.”
NBA commissioner Adam Silver has previously said that about 40 percent of league-wide revenue comes from having fans at games.
