For any given market, it can be argued that consumers will spend their expendable
income regardless of what it is on. If the NBA season is not around, then fans will find a new
way to transform their earnings into something else. Looking at Oklahoma City and the Thunder
in particular, “Each missed game likely would mean a little bit less tax revenue for Oklahoma
City, said Doug Dowler, the city's associate budget director. But because the city is already
ahead of projected sales tax revenue growth of four percent for this fiscal year, losing Thunder
home games would likely only make a small dent in Oklahoma City's robust numbers. The
largest impact would likely be an increased subsidy for the arena, but by how much is not yet
known, and it would not likely cause many problems within the city's $920 million budget for
fiscal year 2012”
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