NBA 2019-20 season lost approximately 1.5 billion dollars

It's no surprise that the roller coaster 2019-2020 NBA season resulted in massive losses for the league. When the smoke cleared, the numbers showed a whopping 1.5 billion dollars (1.150 Billion GBP) in lost revenue.

It's been a crazy year including a long hiatus caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the cancellation of 117 regular-season games, the broadcasting circus in China, and the $200 million bubble environment in Disney World, Florida.

Add in the death of Commissioner David Stern, the man who turned the NBA into the worldwide brand that it is today, and the sudden death of superstar Kobe Bryant. It's been a terrible year for the league.

According to NBC Sports, these are just losses by the league itself. It does not count the losses shouldered by the 30 franchise teams.

The massive financial losses are some of the reasons why there are advocates in the league pushing to start the next season as early as December 22. The additional games would add at least $500 million total revenue for both the teams and the league.

Team owners are also renegotiating an updated Collective Bargaining Agreement with the players' union. It hopes to reduce players' salaries by 25-30% off their guaranteed contracts and bonuses. It is designed to ease the financial burden for NBA franchise teams and pass it on to the players as their contribution to the losses suffered by the entire league.

It also hopes that the reduced expenses will prevent teams from going bankrupt and to prevent the breakdown of the system itself.

The NBA is not expecting to recoup the losses in just one season. While it is strongly hinted that arenas will be open to fans this coming season, it will be at a reduced capacity. Until the research in cooperation with health professionals is completed, the NBA has yet to announce the number of fans that will be allowed to watch the live games.

The 2020-21 season is also expected to be shortened to a maximum of 72 games. That's 10 games shorter than a normal schedule. A shorter program would mean fewer games to broadcast and events to sell tickets. It wouldn't be a surprise if the NBA as a whole operated in the red this coming season too.